Roman Poet Ovid wrote “Fertilior Seges est alienis semper in agris”. It is the Latin proverb that expresses the idea that “the grass is greener on the other side”.
A majority of all my friends seem to have roughly the same story – of being from humble beginnings. Our parents gave us a platform better than what they had. We tend to do the same with our kids. The cycle tends to take us step by step to a better place, only if we deserved it. Every now and then I have seen two distinct aspects; these come in cycles, and these seem to be prone to generalization:
- Self – doubt…at the drop of a hat.
- Complaining… at a high level.
Expectation is the main reason for disappointment. Self-doubt seems to be an outcome of expectation from your own self. Complaining seems to be an outcome from expectation from the rest of the world. Business is full of challenges. Life is full of challenges. So what? No one guaranteed it is going to be a smooth ride. Since everyone knows that – they take help of their belief systems. There are some observations from the set of friends I have at present:
- My simple friends crave for a simple life. It is also equally true that not all of them appreciate the things they already have in front of them. So they have the natural human tendency to yearn for things they do not have in hand; irrespective of whether they need more. All of them hope to some day have everything but not need anything. We know that is not going to happen.
- Once you are out of a crest in life, you tend to preach to others in that crest. Hindsight is a wonderful thing to have. It is very easy to preach to others when you are not in the same position at the same time. All friends expect that the rest of them should always be happy and healthy. We know that is not going to happen.
- If life is all fair weather, we would not see value in people or things around us. Still we crave for a simple life and hope that we will still see value in people around us. We know that is not going to happen.
Is the Grass Greener anywhere?
Think about it: We should be thankful to Pandora for the vices we are exposed to and for the virtues inculcated through that box. As mythology goes, ‘hope’ came out last from Pandora’s box. So be patient, hope for everything that is not going to happen.
Capt Pappu Sastry / CEO – ASL
