Father.... I follow in your footsteps

A boy wakes up one day and he realizes he is different than what he was when he went to sleep last night. He felt his level of observation is higher, he felt he is more sensitive and observant to what is happening around him. He was not very sure what was the reason of his elevated senses and he found himself confused; not sure what and where it will lead him.

In his state of confusion he started getting ready to go to school, although he had gone to school regularly this heightened sense of observation made him question why he was going to school. He asked his mother why am I going to school and he got the response “to get education”. This response rather than clarifying his understanding resulted in more questions.

He went to his father and asked him a follow up question, Father why do I need to get educated, he got the response; so you can get into good college, which should mean you will get a good job and then you will make lots of money.

Answer his father gave was also very puzzling, being an intelligent person he asked himself, what is my ultimate goal? ?Is it education? Not really, education is a vehicle to get a good job. So is getting a good job my ultimate goal? Not really, good job is a vehicle to make money. So boy concluded that his ultimate goal is to make money and perceived path to that, in opinion of his father is through education.

Having had the clarity on his ultimate goal, he realized that there are many other ways to reach this ultimate goal of making money. He considered many different paths and decided that in his case, other paths included too many uncertainties and risk, hence pursuing the path as described by his father seemed like best available option.

Just like boy should, based on what he was taught by his father, perceived education as a journey, a road to his goal. Learning, improving himself, letting education lead him to be more civilized member of the society was not the goals for him, education was merely a stepping stone.

Boy continue to pursue education, completion of which. as expected resulted in him getting a “good job”. Boy now realized he is one step closer to realizing his ultimate goal of making lots of money. In his work this boy did whatever it took to excel so he can be promoted and he can make more money. Being a team player, taking care of his team, being loyal to the company he worked for; were not the goals for him, work for him had one aim only, make lots of money. ??

He continued to excel at his work, he dedicated all his time and efforts on reaching his ultimate goal. Years down the line, he had reached a senior position and now he was making “big” money. One day he woke up and was getting ready to go to work, as he was brushing his teeth, he looked at himself in the mirror and he could see the silver in his hair and wrinkles on his face. At that time he paused and realized, he forgot to ask his father one important question. That question was how much money does he need to make? By this time his father had passed away and boy had no way to get an answer to his question.

More he thought about it more he realized that he has no answer to the question of what is enough, is one million enough, ten million? Would it ever be enough? Boy had no answers only questions. He thought it would have been easier if his father had given him a goal more in line with “SMART objective” hence he would have an idea of how much he should earn to accomplish his goal of making “lots of money”.

In absence of clear goal he decided to give himself a target, in few years he achieved his goal. Now what? Boy was not sure what to do now. He could give himself a bigger goal but by now he was much older and he asked himself what would that achieve, what would that higher goal do for him? He struggled to find an answer.

As one gets older, one realizes he has more years in past than he would have in future. This causes one to reflect, reflect on how you lived your life. This boy who is by now an old man started reflecting, he realized he has college degree and knowledge but no “education”, he has years of experience but no learning. That led him to ask himself another question, what price he paid for his money, which was his ultimate goal.

He realized very quickly that the price he paid was very high, price that he paid was his entire life. He exchanged his life for money, sitting in his home, he asked himself, was this price worth paying? Did he pay too much? Answer was very obvious, if money is what he earned, and this is what he has to show for his entire life than this was a very high price.

As he was pondering over this, his son came over to him. Because of his busy schedule, his son was very much neglected by the boy. Son asked Father why do I need to get education? Why do I have to go to school? Boy thought for a while, his life was playing like a movie. He knew that answer he gives to his son will go on to shape his son's life.

With hesitation boy responded to his son and said you get education to learn and apply what you have learned for betterment of the society. As he was saying this to his son he was wondering how his life could have shaped out if his father has given him the answer, the answer he gave to his son.

Beautiful quote by anonymous

""A Father said to his son, Be careful where you walk, Son responds - You be careful, remember that I follow in your footsteps,""

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