Right isn't always popular... and what is popular isn't always right...

The following article is not my own but i loved it so much that i felt like sharing it down here.

A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track.

The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make

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Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. You might think the same way, I guess. Exactly, to save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was. This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how far-sighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

The great critic Leo Velski Julian said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the trains sirens.. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

'Remember that what is right isn't always popular... and what is popular isn't always right.'

Everybody makes mistakes; that is why they put erasers on pencils.

Out of this entire article i liked the last lines most. I believe that no one would argue about the truthfulness of it.

Fable Morales … are they good enough?

I wonder if there would be one who hasn’t heard about a single fable story in their entire life. One might have come across them as bed time stories or lesson learnt as a part of education or while watching TV etc. The fable stories so intricately cultivated into our life’s that they have become as the moral checklist for oneself.

During childhood we listen to those tales believing as if really a forest with speaking animals do exist. As we grow up we do realise that how the stories were cleverly written to melt down the involved morals into our minds.

But is it so easy to apply those morals in our day to day life? The clear resounding answer would be a big NO.

In the fables a wicked personality is clearly made apparent by their looks or characterisation. From the starting of a story a character is destined to be wicked and he ends up wicked with a failure on his face.

But is it the case in a real life scenario? I wonder not. In the real world a person tends to be good at some point and turns out to wicked and at later point of time.

All the fables clearly show that good people always win in spite of all the odds they have and they face.

But is this so clearly apparent where a good and bad itself haven't got a clear partition? Once good is bad for someone else and once bad is good for some others.

As we start growing and facing the real world there would a plenty number of incidents where the morale we learnt doesn't actually fit down to explain the reasons behind them. We are left to wonder why it happened and satisfy ourselves by saying that it might be results due to deeds done in past life or in a long run we can see results that are in accordance with the morale or sometimes attributing it for the luck and so on.

It would be bad to realise that this fable stories even attribute for some negative mindsets. Like say the odds that set off as we came across a oddly looking person and apparent charm of a good looking person. Even though if bad looking happened to a genuine person and the good looking one a cunning.

Like the Ant and the Grasshopper story which concludes out saying "Hard work always pays off".
Is this really true? You can observe people around who strenuously work to achieve a minimal growth in life and at the same time people who lucratively spend time and still manage to end up their life in luxury.

More interestingly, I have come across some recent version of The Tortoise and the Hare story which was extended further to explain some management principles. The initial story had morale of "Slow and steady wins the race". The original was extended a bit to convey

- That fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady;
- Work to your competencies;
- Pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers;
- Never give up when faced with failure;
- Compete against the situation. Not against a rival.

On a whole the real life is so intricately weaved web where morale cannot fit down straight. We do have to bend and twist the morals.

What is Happiness....

From my childhood at every stage of my life , I used to here or say to myself that if I do this I shall become happy.

In my studies I used to feel / I was made to feel that if I score good grades then I would be happy. I used to dream of becoming a topper and the happiness I would be experience after such an achievement. Finally the day came,But i felt like the happiness I felt was far below than which I dreamt.

In my career I always used to feel that if I get a good job then I would lead a very happy life. That day too came. But still the feeling the experience of happiness was less than what I dreamt.

And days went by like this feeling and asking to myself what actually is happiness....

Now after long many experiences, I began realizing that happiness is not something that is materialist which you can quantify and also can say that some logical sequence of steps would lead us to it.

To say in the words of Democritus:

"Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul."

Suddenly, I began to realize that all these times I was happy but just that I haven't realized that I was happy. And I was happy even if failed to fulfill my dreams.

So, whenever in doubt that if you are happy or not recollect the word of David Burns:

"There is only one person who could ever make you happy, and that person is you."