Monday, May 15, 2017

BOWING OUT ON TIME AND WITH GRACE

     Bowing out on time and with grace - the equivalent of Vanaprasta in Hinduism - is one that few get to embrace.  It is one where a person, recognizing that one's time is past and passe, voluntarily steps aside without either any self-assumed level of higher competence or importance, delusion that the world may come to end without oneself, or simply being compelled either by a cause, person or persons, or relationships, and does not go on, and still on, like a gerbil on a treadmill. Most important is yet the willingness to cut one's bonds that tie one to people, groups, and environment of various types.

     The importance of the above is all too pertinent in the US today where corporate culture that walks one out with a security guard with not even a note of courtesy despite years of service or contribution,  can easily seep into personal and social lives as well.   People have become expendable in the throw-away culture permeating the world today.  One must be thankful if one has been spared of it  - in my case and my cohort who left with me a few years ago, the result of a better culture that prevailed in our own research organization that defied practice elsewhere even within the same corporation.

    In this environment, lucky are those who do not have to find themselves validated just by one environment or activity - be it a job, an elected office, social club, or whatever.  But even there, the sense of a betrayal of trust is often unavoidable, leaving a bad taste.  Thus, the wiser ones should 'hedge their bets'  and prepare to quit before that day comes or, in the least, be ready for it.  But like in everything else, one should also remember that there is  a great healer called TIME.