Looking Back Detail Page

17 Jun

- Parshva Jhaveri School Captain 2016-2017
A very good morning to everyone present here to celebrate the achievements of students and the graduation of the batch of 2017. Words do injustice to the magnitude of gratitude I extend to the principal, teachers and other integral staff of this prestigious institution, all of whom have played a pivotal role in moulding not only our minds but also our core values and character. I can vouch on behalf of the entire batch that this priceless contribution shall shine like diamonds in our vast memory mines.
I feel honoured to congratulate all my batch mates on graduating the easiest part of life, school. I say “easiest” because we shall soon realise that this graduation is only our learner’s license for the drive through life. Apart from the vital hard work and perseverance needed to live your dreams, I would like to share a few thoughts that are easily said but rarely put into practice.
Firstly: The problem with today’s world is that people are afraid to aim high. I’d rather aim high and miss, than aim low and hit. Complacency usually gets the better of most of us. Your biggest risk isn’t failing, it’s getting too comfortable. The key to success is lying right outside your comfort zone.
Secondly: Make sure you know yourself better than anyone else because you are your greatest enemy. In today’s rat race everybody is so concerned about the next person’s performance that they lose the idea of themselves. In the long run, knowing yourself is what will pave the way to your passion.
Thirdly: Talking about passion, Steve Jobs once said, “If you haven’t found it yet, don’t settle.” Imagine I filmed your life with those olden 16mm digital films. Then I took a pair of scissors and began chopping chunks of the film and stuck the remaining portion back together. Most of us wouldn’t notice the difference because every day is just the same. Even if I took out months and years, many of us still can’t tell the difference. Now it becomes a problem because this means that you might as well have not lived those years/months. If you always do what you’ve always done, then you will always be what you’ve always been!
Fourthly: Let us re-examine the meaning of education. Education is about inspiring minds not about memorizing facts, equations and dates right down to the letter half of which one won’t remember and the other half being forgotten after the exam or at end of the semester. Education is not taking someone else’s opinion from a book to pass an exam. Picasso was educated in creating art, Shakespeare was educated in the art of writing and Colonel Harland Sanders was educated in the art of creating Kentucky Fried Chicken. There are more than one ways to be an educated person in this world.
Lastly: If you feel you want to go out and fight for it, to work day and night for it, to give up your time, your peace and your sleep for it, if all that you dream and scheme is about it and life seems useless and worthless without it and if you gladly sweat for it, fret for it and plan for it and lose all your fear of the opposition for it and if you simply go after that thing that you want with all of your capacity, strength and sagacity; faith, hope and confidence and stern pertinacity; if neither cold, poverty sickness or pain or body and brain can keep you away from what you want; if dogged and grim you beseech and beset it, with the help of God you’re going to get it. Albert Einstein once said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Good luck & Godspeed.