Failing was worth!

When it comes to the matter of failure and success, I do always remember and cite the saying of a great scientist: Thomas Alba Edison- “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

If you ask me, as a student, whether you call it my arrogance or childishness-I had always considered myself as an extra-ordinarily talented one. Why do I not? Because, most of the times, it was I who used to get cent percent scores whether it was in Maths or in Science in my class. Whether it was an inter-school poetry competition or a district-wide essay competition, I used to be the one often at the top of the champions. Every single teacher, student, staff of my school called me ‘the genius of the geniuses!’ Many a times, I did get their compliments!

Neither Geometry nor Accountancy- or let’s say there was not a single topic that I would need to study twice! All was a cup of tea for me-I thought, I expected. ‘Failure’ was something that I had never expected to get encountered with, owing to my ‘extra-ordinarily talented nature’. It was something, I considered, that would never interrupt the success-woven path I was leading. I was proved wrong, any though!

I vividly remember the day which was indeed, I call, the toughest time I had to bear. It was when I was in my grade eight, the exam-day of ‘Computer Studies’, our last exam of the then-going District Level Examination (DLE). While in exam, after I read the question-paper, all of sudden, I found my mind going blank! I tried hard but couldn’t even think how to start with? All the questions but their answers seemed familiar. The genius of all, I, became the helpless then! Not a single answer struck my mind. And it was all the way after the first-hour bell had gone, I then realized it was the previous insomniac night’s effect that I had spent watching ‘The Tale of Jack’! I was full of remorse at wasting my time watching a movie late night and being overconfident at excelling the exam with zero preparation the next day.

Few days later, the results were out. I was handed my maiden marksheet with an asterisk (*). That moment, tears rolled down my cheeks and that bitter taste of the salty-water of my eyes is still fresh in my tongue. My life would be never the same again, I realized numbly. It was for the whole day I continued crying till Baba (my father) took me into his arms and narrated the story of the failure and success of the very Edison. His every words kept resonating around my mind. Even the great people of the centuries were once ‘the failures’ in their lives, so I mustn’t utter the cry of despair- I got reconciled, though it was hard.

Had not I failed that day, I think I would have never realized the real meaning of ‘a lost time’ and the hazards of being overconfident. That is why today too I say- “Of course, the failing was worth!”

Parents

Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionary simply defines the word ‘parent’ as- “a person’s mother or father”. However, it signifies much more. It also signifies the qualities like love, generosity, benevolence, sacrifice and so forth.

 We often do address the word ‘Parents’ rather than only using the word ‘parent’. This is because a father and a mother, both, as a parent, are the mirrors of the gods to their child. Both the men and the women try their hard to fulfill the responsibilities of being a good parent. They are always indulged in making the every demands of their child fulfilled at any cost. They are the one who do keep the desires of their child above their own needs. Both of them try to find their happiness upon the happiness of the child. When the child is hungry, they tend to make him or her eat first or when the child is crying or is upset, they forget all other worries and tend to make him or her smile. Indeed, it is the quality of every parents to be a supportive and struggling person for their children.

Nevertheless, there lies some social and, indeed some personal, differences in the ways of parenting between the women and the men parents. In most of the societies, it is seen that the men earn for the family (or the children), while the women are careful enough to expend the earned sum in the betterment of the children. In our families, the children more often tend to spend their time with their mother who looks after their most of the activities like eating, playing, clothing, cleanliness to sleeping. It is often the mother who is perfect at these all whereas, the father is often found to have less perfection in these all, compared to the mother.

The way a mother is often very close to her child than a father, is probably due to the cozy environment of her very warm hug and the breastfeeding to the child during his or her entire infancy. Whether or not it has the scientific basis, but it is often seen around that the level of the sacrifice and the love that a mother shows is hardly equated by that of a father. It is the mother who is more worried thinking whether her child has got something to eat or not, when she is not with him or her; it is she who is more tensed if her child doesn’t return home in time, and so forth. Her worries are often more, yet always caring!

 Any though, a father’s love and sacrifice are always praised all over. He is often taken as the symbol of leadership and discipline in the family, who, therefore, is to plant the same qualities in the children. More often, he is the one to interfere and scold the children if they breach the rules or if the mother is unable to make the children controlled. Despite the vast love for his children, a father is often less expressive than a mother is. While the mothers are often soft-hearted, easily emotional, the fathers, on the other hand, are considered to have firmness and to be less emotional.

In a nutshell, despite the commonness and the contrasts between the men and the women as parents, it is the matter of fact that both the parents have an incredible power of love, struggle, sacrifice, support and guidance for their children. Hence, they must always be praised and loved.