Choose
to live a life of excellence- Success- Inspiration- Accomplishment-
Get the
message to Garcia!
By Sadia Wali
Many people wonder how
success happens and how successful people become more successful. Being
persistent leads to success.
In his rise from being
the son of a candle maker to a legend among men, Benjamin Franklin became
America’s original self-made man.
Abraham Lincoln likewise
captured the public imagination when he made the improbable leap from lowly
log-cabin to the White House. Yet the concept really took hold in American
culture during the post-Civil-War period.
While in India, Alexander
met a Jain monk seemingly aloof and lost in his meditation. Alexander saw the man and thought, “what a
waste of time, this man is doing nothing and wasting life”. He asked him, hey
what are you doing? The monk replied, I am experiencing nothingness but what
are you doing? Alexander then replied, ‘I am conquering the world’. Alexander
was taught to be like Achilles, whose presence in any battle meant assured
victory.
Elbert Hubbard’s essay, A
Message to Garcia 1899, denoted a dedicated soldier who took the initiative to
accomplish a daunting and difficult task without questions or objections and
graciously accomplishes the task.
Success story of these
legends showed their perseverance, dauntless courage, and resolute towards achieving a goal. As it is mentioned
in Bible, “You are going to succeed because you decide to succeed. You are
going to succeed because you make the choice that you will not let life choose
for you. I will choose for myself. You can choose to live a life of choose a
life of excellence.
Reading an excerpt from
Elbert
Hubbard’s essay, A Message to Garcia made us realize that people haven't changed
in the last 100 years; people are not committed to the pursuit of occupational competence.
Promotional ambitions lead to depersonalized detachment rather than an honest
involvement and association with the work.
Let us ponder over the
consequences of ineffective learning and unsuccessful academic achievements of
a teacher in modern times. Education is just impossible without
a proper and appropriate teacher; education reformers
around the world believe that we need to rethink, reinvent and revive schools
and universities. Teachers need to
redefine their roles and responsibilities to meet changing needs and demands. In the present day world, we are facing a
dearth of dedicated and committed
teachers who could shape the society, motivate and inspire students by
providing a safe, secure, and loving environment which builds a foundation for life-long
learning) and foster human values and norms .i.e. goodness,
benevolence and virtues.
A young teacher entering
teaching believes strongly in the importance of cultivating intelligence and
creativity in pupils. Nevertheless within a year, she decided to give up
teaching because of dissatisfaction, cynicism and career frustration.
Changes in the financing of education and
conditions of work often lead to self- estrangement among teachers. They have
difficulty in reconciling their actual achievements with their personal
expectations. Teachers’ anxiety concerning their professional competence is
heightened by a value system that links self- esteem with salary and remuneration.
Teachers do not show interest in doing additional work like put up bulletin
boards, wall
displays, data entry or maintain file of students, after school timings spend
some time to set the classroom for the next day. A teacher while looking up at ten- foot high cupboard
of classroom said, ‘I am paid to teach, not to look after this lot “And so
mostly groan and wail over their career frustration in the staffroom; being
sour, bitter and cynical complain lack of recognition by administrators for
hard work and accomplishments. Consequently, they shout or scold at rowdy children
to discipline them. They also hesitate to give extra attention to weak students
after school. They have formed a negative occupational identity that
threatens their self- esteem.
A group of teachers feel
isolated due to their powerlessness within the organization i.e. their
inability to influence the decision – making process. They think that fellow
teachers are working in their little world. “Everybody is doing their own
thing; nobody is working with colleagues to make this a whole school.” I have
been bullied in my current workspace by other faculty members. After over five
years I was finally able to realize it was work place bullying, I face an
emotional trauma every day. If your current position causes you so much stress
that you fear your mental health is at stake, get out of there fast!” opined an
under- stressed teacher
Feeling intellectually
starved, there are many teachers who have already opted for alternate
profession and there are quite a few on the verge of shifting profession. "Once
you stop learning and not growing in your job, it's time to look for something
else” you can judge if something is actually a better opportunity "feels
like home or fills a deeper need avail the chance.”
It is a sad reality that
people haven't changed in the last 100 years, Every time they are given a task
they start asking irrelevant questions or make excuses or show dissatisfaction
while fulfilling the job. Today our society is degenerating due to lack of
direction, intellectual vision, wisdom, intelligence and correct understanding
among young people. We are really in search of proactive individuals who
realize the significance of collective and individual potential to bring change
in society.
There may be a few individuals
who are extraordinary like Rowan who is always ready to accomplish the task
without asking questions or showing excuses and justifications; those who don't
just do what is expected of them; they surpass the expectations of others in
their pursuit of excellence without considering any reward, compensation or
salary. How chance aids them at every turn! They do not see the trails,
failures and struggles, have voluntarily encountered in order to gain
experience and realize the vision of their heart. They do not see the long and
arduous journey, darkness and heartaches; they only behold present goals and
call it a good fortune.
Being strong –minded and
innovative teachers, we need to realize our priorities and responsibilities
like Rowan who delivered the message to Garcia without asking, "Where is
he? What does he look like? Who are his contacts? How do I get there?" He simply
took the orders and did what he was asked to do. To put away with
aimlessness and weakness and to begin a purposeful life with persistence and
strength is the message conveyed by
Rowan; who believed that success is a journey and not a destination; this
journey has been has no end.
A
profound study on the subject of excellence found in ‘The book of Matthew’ tells
God does not expect us to do only what comes naturally. He expects us to do far
beyond that which is convenient and comfortable. When we have the option to be
better than most? Why don’t we make optimum efforts throughout the year to show
up the best?
An earnest plea to the
teachers of today: Be a Rowan. Do it! Just make a decision. Make a choice. Even
if task is challenging, should not give up. Quitting is not even an option.
“Keeping firm and persistent, I will accomplish the task that is set before me.
I will pursue excellence in every area of my life. Even though if I fall down,
I will get back up and keep myself pressing ‘I can do it!”
“Are you willing to make
the decision to get the job done with excellence? Are you prepared to carry the
message to Garcia?
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