Noel Manuel
Decision-making is perhaps one of the most difficult and challenging tasks that we all tend to face in various situations of our life. The task is generally considered difficult because we can’t actually predict the outcome from most of the decisions that confront us. We largely depend on our intelligence to make the right decisions and in most cases go on to believe that our ability to learn, understand and think in a logical way about things enables us to make the right decisions.
Decision-making is not an easy task given the many options that are available with us these days. And most of the options that lie around us are generally short-lived opportunities without any long-term solutions. We see the butter on the bread but fail to notice the fungus below. We want to be a part of the opportunities here and now and care little about the long-term results.
For instance, the class ten examinations are one of most crucial exams in every student’s life. Rather the biggest hurdle in one’s academic career. Just being a part of these examinations gives so much pride. It is a memorable moment in every student’s life. Every student longs to be a part of this opportunity during his or her lifetime. But just how much of sacrifice has actually gone into this opportunity needs to be asked? We believe, as is the case with any human being, that our intelligence is the source of our confidence and abilities to overcome this hurdle. This belief creates the understanding of the many options that lie before us or can be created by us. And because we have so many options that are directly or indirectly a product of our intelligence, we have the tendency of messing up our performance or being too confident of our abilities during these examinations. Let me remind you that it is equally important for you to be wise as it is to be intelligent. Don’t look at where the road leads, but first ascertain what lies at the end of the road. Don’t just prepare for the exams, but analyze just how much of sacrifice is being put into your sacrifices to decide the outcome of these examinations.
We must understand that our wisdom is the product of our sacrifice and vice versa. When we are wise we are able to make sensible decisions and give good advice because of the experience and knowledge that we have. More significantly, when we are wise, we seek to make decisions that offer long-term solutions and not immediate opportunities. And of course, we are always prepared to sacrifice our hunger, rather than be tempted by the butter and not the fungus on the bread.
We need to know that intelligence is a by-product of wisdom. And the understanding of this is the beginning of wisdom.
Our intelligence is important and good for us. But for the long term it is our wisdom that actually matters. We need our intelligence for those three important hours that we spend each day in the examination hall and our wisdom for the remaining hours that we spend at home preparing ourselves for those three crucial hours.
A friend of mine had once asked me, which of the two do you think is important for the youth, intelligence or wisdom?
To which I replied and said if you have the time, maybe we could experience the understanding of both or maybe a short story should give us a deeper and more meaningful perceptive of the two.
Andre always had the tendency of getting up late for classes each day. Not that he was lazy, but in fact he always spent late nights on his computer. This resulted in his mother often having to shout at him until he was up and got going. Andre was intelligent and his knowledge of computers was much beyond anyone of his age. His late night sacrifices on the computer earned him the nick name the ‘computer buff.’ But with his studies, it wasn’t the same. At nineteen, he was overage for the high school examinations and his determination to cross this hurdle was far stronger than the sacrificial qualities that were lacking in him. He was intelligent and therefore determined to pass his high school examinations But was not open to the idea of sacrificing long hours in preparation for the biggest academic obstacle. This lack of wisdom and unwillingness to sacrifice made him a repeater in four different grades. He enjoyed sacrificing his sleep to his preference over computers. And with his studies and sleep it was otherwise.
It was the third attempt that Andre was preparing for and he was aware that his failures on previous occasions was largely because of his inability to be wise enough to sacrifice his interests for other things. Although his late night antics did not end, this time however, it was not the computers that kept him awake, but rather his books that made him go to sleep at odd hours. As usual, his mother’s shouts had become a routine occurrence and Andre could barely make it before the 7:30 deadline. He, as usual, got up late and virtually pulled himself along to school.
With the examinations finally over, it was time now for the most expected moment that everyone was waiting for. Andre knew that he would get through this time and when he got the moment to share this joy with his mother. He just had one thing to say. That sacrifices are more important than one’s abilities and wisdom is the mother of intelligence. “I have learnt to be wise and sacrifice my time more for the things than do not interests me much and in the process I have emerged successful.” And he goes on to confess that “All along he depended on his intelligence to motivate his abilities to believe that everything can be achieved through confidence – I guess I had too much of this dose.”
Andre’s story is just one of the many lessons of life and the opportunity for us to rethink the way in which we trust and believe in our abilities to decide the outcome of any situation.
Remember, as we go into our examinations or for that matter any situation where we wish to emerge successful, there is just one way in which we can achieve long term and satisfying results. We must learn to be wise and decide to sacrifice our time and other short term interests for long term results and sustainable success. Perhaps Andre’s story should serve as a new beginning for many of us, who dislike sacrificing our time and interests.
noelmanuel@rediffmail.com
The writer is the Bureau Chief (Nagaland) of Eastern Panorama (News Magazine of the Northeast), Coordinator of the Northeast Region (Poetry Society of India) and Life Member of the Poetry Society of India, Phonetics Trainer
