Tamding Sherpa
A dog barks in your street. You, either, complain that the dog is disturbing the peaceful environment, or you look out to see what caused it. You have a choice. Maybe the dog saw a fire and therefore, barked. You had a choice. The point, I am trying to make, is that it is always up to a person to make the best of a situation he/she is in and to understand that even the worst of situation, when carefully looked into, can turn out to be a blessing.
Leonard Peltier, in his book, ‘Prison Writings’ tells us of a situation, where he is sent to a boarding school, at a young age. He talks about the school’s strict policy of having to speak only English, inside the school compound and how he despised it. He elaborates how students were whacked, if they were caught speaking their native language and, Peltier, with great certainty, confirms, that such actions were initiated, by the school, with the intention of wanting to wipe out the Indian culture. During my early teens, I was also sent to a boarding school, by my parents. There too, we, students were forbidden to speak our mother tongue. We were whacked or had to write five hundred times, “I will speak English inside the school” if we were caught speaking our language. However we, very well, knew what the teachers’ intentions were. We chose to take such heartless measures against us as an approach to improving our English. Instead of mistaking such deeds to be works of oppression, we opted to take them as some source of encouragement.
The result, in the end, is very clear. Even though, both, Leonard Peltier and I speak English well, I happen to have this certain amount of respect for my teachers, which Peltier chose not to. One should always look at the bright side of a story, because only then will the result be bright and learn from great personalities like, The Dalai Lama, who, urged his Tibetans followers ‘to learn Chinese so that they can talk with their new rulers, not fight with them.’
