Self Made Man! Really?
A dialogue from one of Ajith’s Tamil movie - “Billa 2”, goes like this. Ajith says, “En vazhkaiyila, ovaru naalum, ovaru nodiyum, naana sedhukinathu, which literally translates to, “I have sculpted every moment of my life, all by myself”. This dialogue gets huge applause and whistles from his fans at the movie hall. As I walked out of the theatre, I could over hear his fans endorsing this dialogue, by saying, ”Yes, it is true. Ajith is a self-made man”. I felt glad that this was a good message the actor has conveyed to his fans, to think in the lines of taking 100% responsibility for their life.
As a member of CII, I have had the opportunity to attend some of the ‘Star Trek’ sessions, wherein successful businessmen are invited to come and share their success story. This event is generally a crowd puller, because people are excited about the opportunity to meet a VIP face to face and ask questions that would guide them in their growth process. What I have invariably noticed, during their speeches is that most of them have come from a very poor background or from a remote village where there was no infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals, connecting roads, electricity, drinking water etc. Most of them did not have a strong financial backing or educational backing, but it was their mere grit and determination, that has triggered them to achieve such great heights. Quite often, they end the speech with a silent proclamation, “I am a self-made man”. Then, there goes a thunderous applause to appreciate them and cheer them up. When we hear that someone is a self-made man, it creates within us a sense of awe and places them on a high pedestal and makes us to look up at them as role models.
I sincerely bow down with great
respect to such people who have toiled all the way up from scratch. The rags to
riches story, never fails to inspire me or for that matter anyone, who is
aspiring at achieving great heights in life.
In parallel, one more thought runs in
my mind. It may sound critical, but it is a genuine question that lingers in my
mind. Is it possible for someone to be self-made? By proclaiming, that we are a
self-made person, are we not discounting the contribution of so many people,
who have directly or indirectly, actively or passively helped us to achieve
what we have achieved in our life?
Right from our parents, who introduced us to this world. They may have not given us good education, but without them we would not have be existing in this world today. Especially in a country like India, where infanticide is so high, if we have survived, it is because they cared to make sure we were fended enough to live.
What about our siblings? It is in the nest called family did we learn
to care and share. In some cases by sibling support or in some cases by sibling
rivalry, we would have been motivated to grow.
How about the contribution of
teachers? When I say teachers, I am not just talking just about our school or
college teachers, but all those who came into our life to teach us a lesson.
More often, I have realized that the greatest of our teacher, come to us in the
form of an enemy. They teach us lessons, we will never forget.
How about our true friends, who stood
by us during the time of distress? Even if they did not give money to help,
they would have at least given some good leads, genuine advice or moral
boosting words.
If not anyone else, how about God or the Supreme Power? If not for His divine blessings or invisible interventions, how would we have been, to overcome the challenges posed upon us?.
May be we could say, that we had a
difficult past, before reaching this level, but to say that, I am a self-made
man, does not sound justified to me.
To sum it up, we personally have a greater admiration for people who have the humility to accept that they have been successful, by the contribution of so many people in their lives, rather than taking all the credits to themselves. I am sure that when someone gives credit for their success, to their parents, their family, their teachers, their co-workers, their employees, or whosoever who genuinely deserves it; they will not be looked down as insignificant, but looked up with a higher regard of significance.
D. Senthil Kannan,
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