Compromise is not a struggle

 Compromise is not a struggle

Once while I was sitting at bus-stop waiting for a bus, and suddenly a man around sixty-four or sixty five years old came by and sat beside me. Honestly, he was well-suited than me. I was just watching him. He was wearing a perfectly ironed shirt and pant and nicely polished shoes. I presumed that he might be a high profile government officer. 

I plugged out my earphone from my mobile and put it into my bag, while I realized that the man was watching me. As I glanced at him awkwardly, he smiled politely. Even his smile seemed too much professional.

“Young lad! College boy?” he asked.

“Yes,” I nodded, ignoring a strange conversation.

“Must have drowned yourself in fun and enjoyment,” he said.

“Not actually,” I shook my head. “I don’t do fun.”

“Pity then. You should,” he grumbled. He paused for a moment and then asked, “So what do you study?”

“Computer science,” I replied bluntly. 

“Tech people,” he sighed. “I really admire you people, but I curse you at the same time.”

Undoubtedly, I was surprised by that sentence. Why would an old man like him curse people like me? 

“Why is that?” I asked curiously.

“When I was like you, perhaps bit older than you, I was working in a private company. We used to make metal components of vehicles and automobile. I worked there for two-three years, and then I quit. I wasn’t really a smart man like you. I was just an ITI guy, who could work on those old instruments and machines. But then this new thing came. Computer Science. They assured us to change the face of technology. Well, honestly, we all were happy that something different was coming along. But when it did, many things were made automatic. They had reduced man power at considerable amount, and many of my colleagues became jobless. I was fortunate though. I had already learnt some new things which might have kept my job for few years. But those men were really poor and they couldn’t learn these new things without proper education and training. We saw many people switching their career and starting a business. Many of my friends took shops on rent and started business. But still, I heard many people went back to as worker at construction sites. Unfortunately, your technologies had reduced man power there too. But still there was a chance of getting a job that could feed you. But I always pitied on those people who couldn’t make it through,” he explained.

I was quietly listening him. That man was making some really appropriate points, on which I agreed. That must be really unbalanced and chaotic situation back then. 

“Anyway, I decided to make my son a techy person like you. I could never learn that computer thing, on which my son mocked me for quite long time. But I made him an engineer, just like you,” he said.

“That’s good,” I spoke blankly. 

“Yes,” he nodded. “Although, he is quite older than you. He is currently working too. But still sometimes when we discuss with each other, he mentions the same problem with his generation. He once told me that they learn things and they get upgraded in few years and they don’t get time to learn those new things. And he also mentioned that nowadays, engineers have worst fate. Is it?” 

“Yes,” I admitted. Well, I knew that most of us don’t have that glorious future. 

“Do you know what people do in such situations?” he inquired.

I remained quiet and that said it all.

“Compromises,” he said. “Some compromise with money. Some compromise with knowledge. And some compromise with skills. It is not actually their fault for not being qualified for the job, is it? Yet they have to compromise.”

“I wouldn’t,” I grumbled out of pride. “I would never compromise any of these.”

He looked at me curiously and said, “But sometimes you don’t have a choice.”

“But compromise is never an option. It doesn’t just waste your hard work, it makes you dishonourable. One compromise may not seem a big deal, but when you succeed, you just prefer compromise at every point of your life just because of your obsession with success,” I said calmly. 

He kept staring at me, while I said that. “You seem like really good lad,” he whispered. “You know where these things lead us. Tell me, are you obsessed with success or peace?” 

“I don’t know what I want yet. But I do know one thing that I don’t want success that has no meaning of that word,” I muttered. “For me, success is not just achieving wealth and prosperity. The journey matters the most to me. People choose different ways to get success. We call them shortcuts. But if you walk with self-pride, it is very unlikely that you’ll get success. I have heard many people telling me that once you reach there, nothing actually matters. But I still can’t stand with this concept of getting success by faking things. I can’t be dishonest with myself to just reach there.”

“But most of the people don’t work that way,” he grinned. “You’re right that for some people even little bit of dishonesty ruins the joy of their success. Because everyone has different priorities in life. Some people make their success priority. But some people make their honesty their priority. Legends say that honest ways lead you to success. But those legends were made during honest world. This is just a dishonest world. Here, honest ways may starve you to death.”

“When I come to your age, I don’t want to feel that my entire life was worthless. But perhaps dishonest ways will put me in that feeling of worthlessness,” I confessed.

“Then you shouldn’t be dishonest with your life,” he advised.

“And it will keep me away from success, forever,” I grumbled in disappointment.

“I’m not going to lie just because you could keep your motivation. But yes, it is very likely that it will keep you away from success,” he admitted. “Honesty is not everyone’s cup of tea, boy. People think that their compromises are their struggle. But it’s not. Compromise is not struggle. Honest people are rare. No one stays that way. But even if they do, how many of us know about their honesty?”

“Perhaps we don’t want to show people our honesty. Why would we?” I said.

“Yes, we shouldn’t,” he agreed. “And that is the you live with honesty. You may never see the face of success in your life, but you know the face of honesty. And believe me, it is more assuring than success.”

We remained quiet for a moment, as a bus passed by. 

“You said you quit the job. What did you do then?” I asked curiously.

“I became an insurance agent,” he replied calmly.

There was a strange silence for few moments. We both knew that irony, and I honestly wanted to laugh, yet I didn’t. However, he started laughing and I joined him.