What will give you true happiness?
Amy Elizabeth Chandy
Learning is a process that every single human being undergoes. It is not just a yearly or even monthly process, but a day-to-day one as well. We observe people around us — how they speak and act. In learning about others, we learn about ourselves in the bargain, and also how it is best to interact with other people. We learn the true meaning of terms such as integrity, kindness, sincerity, dedication, love, acceptance, appreciation, humility and encouragement only from honest actions. Not just from words.
As students, we expect to learn these life lessons on campus — both within and outside the classroom. Students play such an instrumental role in influencing and educating fellow students. Sadly, it is very difficult to find students true to their beliefs, firm in the stands they take and confident of their values. Many take the easy way out, rather than being whom they truly are, which is not as easy as it sounds. They slide into the easiest getaways camouflaged in the form of a group of close friends.
Yet why do these students feel such a sense of loneliness? Why is it that even though they appear to have things figured out, they are all still so alone? All that I choose to boldly say is that if being different means that you stand alone, then do not be afraid to be the only one brave enough to be the person everyone is secretly wishing that he/she was.
The real dilemma in our educational system is that many students are afraid to be who they really are. They have been taught by people around them that it is not acceptable to laugh at things that other people do not think are funny, that it is not proper for them to think differently from their parents and most importantly, that it is not right to voice your own opinion.
Sooner or later, you will look upon yourself wondering how much you have accomplished in life. However successful you may become, it is only the satisfaction of embracing what really makes “you” and appreciating what you really feel, that will make you genuinely happy. That is education at its best.
Amy Elizabeth Chandy
III year, B.A. History, Women’s Christian College, Chennai
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