INK-ing All That Matters
"Train derails in Jammu; Flood in the village; Building collapsed; Taj attacked by terrorists, firing over 5 hours; World Trade Center attacked by planes; Political riots hits the city"
" 100 people lost their lives, over 200 severely injured, 50 people missing"
All that we hear every day is news of greatest fear and tears. The news that tears apart all that dreams some individual eyes have seen, faiths that some hearts have saved and strengths that those hands have cultivated.
We do not fear life but we are afraid for our lives, our loved ones and people around. With the help of technology, the human being has overcome a lot of challenges that mortality had offered. It is humanity that is the endangered species rather.
Still, a person lives beyond his/her fears. If you ask why? I have two answers- 1) He doesn't have a choice and 2) He still doesn't have a choice. What joy is to live that life in constant fears? What joy does life have when there is no goal and no motivation? Life is a series of expectations, dreams, and hierarchy of all that things that "matters" to a person from time to time and with changing times.
Sometimes, I wonder why live when life is so dynamic, so unsure and so much uncertain, often leading to tragic endings? The answer that I get is- it is irreversible, we cannot go back being a fetus. So we need to live and if life, living with dreams and plans helps the life survive.
I am reminded of a poem "To the Indians who died in Africa" that I read in school. It was a poem by TS Elliot. The poem read like this-
"A man' destination is his own village
his own fire and his wife's cooking
To sit in front of his own door at sunset
and see his grandson and his neighbor's grandson
playing in the dust together"
The poem is still fresh in my mind and to me apart from telling how geographical boundaries are not important and home is where the heart is, it also gave me a preview of our ultimate requirements so early in life. It is like that soft drink Sprite ad where two chaps sitting on college ladders talking about ambitions and achievements.
Why go far? I can quote my own example. As a kid, all that mattered to me was having fun! Playing, dancing and winning adulation. Time changed and there came a time when my "matter" rating changed. All that mattered to me was living and then being able to walk, again. It took me some time to consummate my preference and update with a newer one. From education to dignity, to love to money to stability to a home, I realized all that mattered to me was nothing but a quest to be healthy and happy.
So here's all that matters to me-
All that matters to me
is a thought that I am loved
is a feeling that is being nurtured
is a desire to be taken care of
All that matters to me
is to bask in the glory
to drink in sunshine and
to enjoy every splash of rain equally
All that matters to me
is a free society
where gender is not above human
where prejudices not above humanity
All that matters to me
to see those smiles in those faces
and those eyes shining with joy
to breath and walk with spring in my foot
All that matters to me
are clean water and healthy air
a roof above me that I can call home
a family that I call mine.
All that matters to me
is to be independent and able-bodied
to walk without any aid
to see, touch and speak that I feel.
All that matters to me,
is not merely an affordable luxury
it is happiness big and small
it is living a life free of fear.
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This post is written as a part of ‘All that Matters‘ contest at BlogAdda.com in association with INK Live 2013.
As always, Ekta, this is super. Hope all that matters to you come true. Wish you all the best.
ReplyDeleteThanks sooo much! :)
Deletesuperlative writing,wonderful poem
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
Deleteloved tat poem!..and true full dil se post...amazing..:)
ReplyDeleteThank u VAisakhi! :) Keep visiting. My new post is coming soon!
DeleteYes, we have to live no matter how many skies are falling around us. The beauty of life lies in living.
ReplyDeleteThe poetry is inspiring. Beautiful write.
Thank you so much. Really well said!
DeleteAcc to buddhist philosphy, every moment an organism lives is something positive and therefore something that the mind should feel positive about, despite having or not having any dreams,goals,please,pain or anxiety
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful thought!
DeleteThis was lovely / one wishes the world would be ind to all its species, a life free of fear, and evil.... Ekta thank you for that , am battling just doing a post here ... goodwill seems to be very hard to give....http://innerdialect.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/the-right-to-female-social-security/
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Innerdialect. Your post is lovely! Keep more such write ups coming.
Deleteits so beautiful… you made a typo in the beginning of the third para.. check that one.. for a competition one needs to perfect.. this article is so reflective, solemn and insightful.
ReplyDeleteall the best
I agree thanks so much. Also, for bringing the error to my notice.
DeletePl help me with the typo as which word are we referring to here...
Brilliantly penned :)
ReplyDeleteAll the best :)
http://simplysaid22.blogspot.in/
Thanks so much, Varun! Keep visiting!
Deleteall the best, good use of poetry , aptly placed, good one!
ReplyDeleteYeah nice poetry...very well said.....we have to live...forgetting any other thing...
ReplyDeleteLovely poem and a thought provoking read. Good luck, Ekta.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAll that matters to me
is to bask in glory
to drink in sunshine and
to enjoy every splash of rain equally...........
beautiful lines
Ekta you have wonderfully penned the things really matter supported by a lovely poem. Very rightly said, in today's times, humanity is the endangered species. O yes! how we all desire to live freely as Guruji (Rabindra Nath Tagore) had once said 'where the mind is without fear and the head is held high...into that country of freedom, my father, let (me) ..awake'
ReplyDeleteindeed free of fear ..
ReplyDeletehow nicely you have penned down the emotions of all that matters to us individually and collectively
wonderful.. I say !!Apt to the theme.
You know, once you have figured out for certain what you are living for, when you are absolutely certain of it, it is only then you will start living for what you ever stood for.
ReplyDeleteSo if living healthy and happy is what you've figured out, I'll tell you that I've always wanted that, the what you just wrote in poem is what I might say in prose (except for the society part :P), but also that I haven't yet made up my mind :)
Nice post there!
Cheers,
Blasphemous Aesthete
Thanks!
ReplyDelete