Dissent On The Forum

I am a member of a few Groups dedicated to a particular subject of mine.

There is an elderly person (82 years) who contributes articles after researching from many sources, in addition, gives his opinion from experience. We all quietly read those articles. Take the good points and leave the points which don't work for us.
This person took a lot of pride in sharing his knowledge with us in the past.

Many have written their appreciation for his efforts in the past. He was visibly happy to read our positive mails. Recently one member whom we know to be young, started to disagree with this person's views on the subject and belittled him, asking him not to misguide the freshers with his so-called theories on the subject which were all wrong and don't work. Just this one negative mail upset him very much.

This elderly person has written back a mail questioning this upstart's wisdom and experience in the subject by quoting the references and sources from which he gathered the information and presented it to the forum. Expectedly, he bid us all good bye as he felt the group din't deserve such pearls of wisdom.

Some wrote requesting him to continue and to ignore that fellow.

I thought this incident out. We love good comments all the time whatever be our age. We can't stomach even one single dissent. We want to storm out in protest. There is something called ego which comes into play.

"I am great. I am doing so much for this cause or that. Everyone should appreciate whatever I do. I am always right about everything. I will hear no dissenting voice against what I express. If someone does that, I will walk out and never share any of the precious knowledge I have acquired all these years. You don't deserve my wisdom...."

If a school teacher were to resign because one student creates problems for the teacher, then there would be no one left to teach or share knowledge with. How will we pass on what we know to the next line of learners. If our rishis were full of ego would we have learnt the shastras, traditions, techniques, etc.
For every Arjun there will be a Duryodhana who might question the teacher's credentials but the class should go on. The learning process should not be stopped for one voice of dissent.
That too, at age 82, when one is expected to be past such strong emotions.

To each his own.

Mahalakshmi

Turning Points in Life

Dear readers!

Among the many turning points in my interesting life, one was whether to plunge into business for myself in the year mid-1996. Until this time i was working with companies on and off.

On and off meant being able to be there for my sons who were young and at school. These were very personal decisions and no one forced me on these moves.

When the time came to start our own business so that me and my husband could take up projects and work from home we were jittery. Initially the idea was so scary and many well wishers were cautioning us about such a risk.
Then one fine day I saw a couple with two young kids put up a temporary tent on the road just outside our old home to lay roads! They were nomads, they dint know what permanence was in terms of work, a permanent roof over their heads and so many other things associated with living life securely. Yet they seemed to take it all in their stride.
When a laborer was so confident about his ability to earn and fend for his family why not us who are somewhat better than these folks was my thought.
After that there was no turning back at all. We set up our business and ran it well for more than a decade.

A small, seemingly insignificant incident does trigger you to take that so-called risk and that becomes a turning point in your life. But it did teach me was to take measured steps and undertake what we both could really handle and to be happy with whatever we got out of it. We did so well in the first few years that we had to take in 8 more people to help us out with our project work. We learnt some very valuable lessons and had the pleasure of meeting many different kinds of people. It was a good exposure to be our own bosses!!

God bless us all in every step of the way.

Cheers!
Mahalakshmi