Leaping bus

Dec 15, 2010 00:08

This is post is a part of a new blogging series dedicated to the various people who've tried teaching me stuff at some point in the past. More specifically, it touches upon those people and those teaching that I did not grok back then but makes some sense now.

This thought comes from MD, one of the many physics professors I had in my PUC days. MD was a very young, jovial & sauve character. One day, he talked of the hit Hollywood (hit back in the days in India) flick: Speed. The movie tried gathering audience by showing scenes of the bus leaping over a large missing section of the bridge.

MD's insight was about everything that happened from the start of bus hijacking to this scene. His idea was that there are times in life where you get into a tough spot. And in those circumstances, you can get other people to help you. Going back to the movie, while the initial few minutes of the driving the bus was harrowing, eventually there was a lot of support, the roads got cleared, there was an escort patrol and what not. But when it was time to take the leap of faith and jump across the missing segment of the freeway, no one could help.

His point was that while you can have all the help and support from the world, ultimately it is you who has to undertake overcoming the really tough problems and that is something that you have to do it by yourself. He went through the pain of preaching all of this to say that no matter what anyone teaches us, what we learn is upto us. Looking back, I believe that as a person, he must've meant this in a much a more philosophical sense but most of us 16 year olds would not even have appreciated what he said in the context.

Over the years, a few wise men have made a similar remark in a different context. They've independently said that even in the most awesome marriage, you are still alone when it comes to cracking such problem. Again, I fail to appreciate the significance of their words at this point. Maybe I shall write about them should I ever reach that stage in life :-)

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