Seldom do we pause and think about what we have accomplished in life so far, and figure out where we want to be, the heights we want to scale, the things we want to do. We are so caught up in the eternal rat race that we have converted life into, always running from one milestone to another, we forget which ones really matter. Take a moment and look around you, see how many people are doing what they really like, what they dreamt about as a child. You will find that the number is dismally low. All those dreams that we used to lapse into during the boring classes at school, where we would picture ourselves as astronauts flying towards the stars, or as scientists or as writers working on the book that would win the next booker prize, where have they gone? These dreams reflect our true passion, and yet we sacrifice them just so that we can reach that next milestone. The most distressing part about this is that, the milestone for which we have given up all this, in the long run, simply does not matter. The blind rush towards making more and more money, working day and night just so that the stock value of some company goes up by 4 points, is that really what matters? Can our entire life's work be summed up in just one single sentence - he/she helped increase the profits by 90%. What can we say and how do we answer that child, who dreamt that someday, he/she would be a poet.

We have ended up centering our entire life on that piece of paper, the one with Gandhi’s picture on it. Wonder what he would have said if he knew that people would give up everything they have - life, family, friends and go to any extent, even murder, just to acquire that piece of paper. But the question still remains; does money actually deserve such a high status, which the capitalist economy has bestowed upon it? Is there no other aim, no other goal nobler? It is in our inability to answer this question that we placed money up on that pedestal. We have begun measuring the success of a person by the amount of money he has, but does money alone signify success? This is where I feel that the society has gone astray. By giving that piece of paper so much importance, we have condemned ourselves to an eternal rat race; from which the only way to get out, is to bring it down from its high stand. Society has, for long, perceived money as being synonymous with happiness and success and it is this perception that has to be altered. This is, unfortunately, something that is not possible overnight. To change the outlook of the entire society, we must first try and change that of an individual.

We have, long since said that money is not everything in life, but have we ever seriously tried to look deeper into that statement. I feel that the answer to that child lies in here. Remove those pair of blinkers that causes us to move only in one direction, and we will find that fewer of us will have to answer to those children. Most of our dreams will lead us onto the roads less traveled, making the monetary rewards uncertain. This is what we have been unwilling to face, and instead opt for careers where the financial gains are abundant. Effectively, we sell our hopes and dreams, the very characteristics that make us human, for cash, making it the ultimate Satan’s pact. The freedom, which we all fight for, seems to be in vain, because we ourselves are willingly entering into slavery, replacing one master with another. There are very few in this world, who resist this and go on to fulfill their dreams. These are the people who are successful, not those rich CEO’s or their hotshot lawyers. We, in our failure to realize this fact, often look upon that struggling poet or that musician with little more than sympathy, and say, “ Poor guy, has misplaced his goals”, when it is in fact, only he, who hasn’t.

To change this situation, there are two things that are highly essential - the willingness to take risks and the guts to go against the norms of society. Most of us prefer a life of certainty, so that we know where our next meal will come from. It is obvious that if you give a poor guy a book, he would rather use it as firewood than read it. But at least, once our basic needs are met, we should risk following our dreams. Time would be better spent, a lot better spent, if we did so; and in fact it would be criminal if we did not. If we spent our entire life in the blind and unceasing pursuit of money, when do we get time to actually enjoy it? I believe that happiness comes from doing what you love and not from having more cash than you can spend in a lifetime. The multitude of the current society would of course reject this, and probably mutter, "This guy is crazy"; but this is where the willingness to stand up to society comes into play. I hope that the time will come when people accept this as common sense, and cease to serve a fickle master.

This is something that has plagued mankind for a very long time, and I believe that it is about time we cut the chains with which we have bound ourselves. Life would be a lot more fun and adventurous if we did so. Please don’t regard the above thoughts as the product of a deranged mind, instead take some time off to think about it.