DIRECTION

The word “DIRECTION” means 1. A corner in which one heads. 2. Instruction(s) to reach an intended goal.

While driving on the road we follow any one of the  four (forward, reverse, left or right), while at the sea a ship follows one of the 4 (North, West, East & South) or more specifically any of N, NNE, NE, NEE, E, SEE, SE, SSE, S, SSW, SW, SWW, W, NWW, NW, NNW. When airborne the plane has two more direction added to this 16 directions namely up and down. All these direction are relevant while one is on the earth or in the earth’s atmosphere. Once you leave the earth these directions render useless for one need to substitute the sun with, may be another distant star.

In the process of marching toward the destination a car is given direction by the wheels, a ship is given direction by the rudder; a plane is given direction by the air foils plus rudder and a spacecraft by the nozzle.

Proper direction is very vital to reach the desired destination to progress and to survive.

Once on a beach, one wave after the other, brought sholes of star fishes, the fishes were destined to die but a small boy on the beach was trying to catch one and throw it back in to the sea. The waves were mightier than the hand of the boy. The waves brought the fishes in thousands and boy returned them back in one or two. There were others on the beach but he was the only person returning fishes back to the waters.

An old man walked up to him and asked what difference does it make? The fishes come in majuscule and you send them in miniscule. The boy lifted a fish and saying “It makes difference to this one” he threw it into the water. He took another one said the same thing and threw it into the water.

For the old man it was just a futile exercise but for the fish it was a matter of life and death. The boy gave a direction to the fish, a direction towards water, a direction towards life.

While on road we come across crossroad and living a life we come across ambiguity. We cannot continue to stay there for long, we have to take a decision, a direction and move on. When ambiguity pervades, haziness is all around, a remark from a friendly soul falls on our ears. “Why don’t you do this?”, “Have you ever tried this one?”, “How about doing it this way?”, “Never say no.”, “You are capable of doing that.” “You should give it a try” so on and so forth.

I call these remarks as “PASSING REMARKS”. How careful are we? How attentive are we to these remarks? They often go unheard. Is it because they sound unpleasant? Can they be turned into melodious music? Can they be transformed in to a symphony?      

There is no dearth of stories of great men who understood the importance of these passing remarks and made the most out of their lives. These remarks work equally well for those who are careful listener and consistent follower. 

One such passing remark from Neha opened up a new direction for me that I never dreamed of even in my wildest dream. It is said that "The journey of thousand miles begins with a single step" and fortunately enough, I ..... took that single step. 

See you next time with the STORY OF NEHA PATEL