I have heard this story of Mrs. Benington who once having lost the small key of the old kitchen clock went with her husband to get another. Mr. Benington waited outside while his wife went into the jeweler’s shop. The next sight which he noticed was that of his wife storming out of the Jeweler’s shop. He promptly enquired, “Did you get it?” “No”, said the wife. “And why not?” enquired the husband. “Well”, the wife replied, “Mrs. Sanderson was in there buying pearls, so I just inquired how long it would take to clean a diamond tiara!!”
The fact that some of us might find some humor in this story is because of the reason that we all are, in some degree, pretenders – pretenders who pretend lot of things in life. In fact pretension has become a major social disease of this era.
For example Newbie call center professionals after getting voice-trained in American and British English puts on an accent and pretend as if they are the ones who discovered English.
Software professionals who are in the industry for 2 or 3 years pretend as if they are the storehouse of all the vital information of the technology they are working on.
Amateur sportsmen pretend as if they are the professional or competent sportsmen.
Professional sportsmen pretend as if they are the best sportsmen of the world.
In personal lives successful people pretend to not know their old buddies who are NOT-SO-SUCCESSFUL.
People pretend to not disclose their liking for another person even when they get recurring dreams of that person.
“Pretend, pretend and pretend” seems to be the mantra of the day. If I had the time to list out the pretences I notice in my everyday life the list could just have been endless. I feel that we need to accept the reality that today we are living in a world of pretence.
At this juncture I want to make a wish. A wish that goes thus - In this gruesome world of pretence I really wish that I could just be myself. I wish I could live a life where I don’t pretend to be someone else. I wish I could tear away the mask of pretence which has enveloped this whole existence. I wish I could just be me.
We live in an era where every Tom, Dick and Harry tries to be an Albert Einstein or an Amitabh Bachan or an Aishwarya Rai. We all want to be someone else. We go on pretending that we are someone else. But do we ever realize how much harm we are doing to our individualities when we are pretending or when we are trying to be something which we are not! I believe that God created us unique, so unique that there never was a person who was exactly like you nor there is nor will there be. We all are uniqueness personified. The question I ask each one of you at this juncture is “Are we not disrespecting the creator who created us by pretending to be someone else whom we are not?”
In Bhagavad gita Lord Krishna makes this vital statement which roughly translated goes thus, “It is better to die doing your dharma than to carry someone else’s dharma on your shoulders” which again translated to layman’s terms means that “Be yourself and not someone else”.
Personally I love the Reebok ad slogan which says “I am what I am”.
Having said all these, a question which might pop up in all our minds could be, “Well, I am ready to be myself, and I am ready to be ME. But who am I?”
“Who am I” is a question which the mankind has been asking itself since its inception. And I leave that question for each one of you to explore and answer for yourself. I wish I could command the almighty to guide you in your quest for truth. Gandhi once said, “Truth is as old as a hill, pretence can never win over it”.
It has been wonderful sharing this passing thought. I wish you all the very best in your life.
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