Page 18 - Seniorstoday May 2024 Issue
P. 18

looking at the ceiling. Deafening silence          purpose as a married man was to look
         there was, thanks to the omnipresent smart         after my spouse and children, my purpose
         phones. As an inveterate observer of the           as an employee was to look after the
         stage and actors, I found it all interesting       company and its stakeholders, my purpose
         and intriguing. Human behaviour indeed             as a grown up man was to look after my
         can teach us a lot, for better or worse. You       parents, my purpose as an income earner
         may wonder what I am doing?!                       is to pay taxes, my purpose as a teacher
          Well, I am flooded with random thoughts           is to impart knowledge, my purpose as a
         and penning them for an article, with the          scientist is to discover, my purpose as a
         Damocles’ sword of time over my head, of           businessman is to make profits and provide
         course with a glass from the bar juicing its       jobs, my purpose as a geriatric is not to
         way to my thumb clicking and clacking              be a burden.  Whatever the stage of life,
         away at my mobile key board. Live the              whatever the related purpose at that stage,
         moment, one may wont to say. As I posted           the underpinning is life and survival. A
         my thought of the day today morning in             poor man strives to live, so does a rich man.
         Facebook, “You can only spend time, not            All their efforts are to live. Living itself is
         save it.” To each his own on how and what.         the primary purpose of life, is it not? Of
          This brings me to the oft asked question,         course, and quite evidently, this is not to be
         “What’s your purpose in life?.” All of             confused with standards of living. It is but
         us have had this question thrown at us             a distinction between a need and a want.
         by all and sundry, making most of us
         scurry for cover and leaving us confused
         or overwhelmed. And I dare say none
         have ever had a lucid answer to that
         question, including yours truly. A question
         seemingly pregnant with meaning, but
         essentially pointing to the existentialist
         crises of the homo sapiens particularly.
         Purpose can be variedly defined as an
         objective or an end to be attained or an
         intention or a resolution.
















          My purpose as a child was to play, my
         purpose as a student was to study, my
         purpose as a young man was to be gainfully
         employed and be a productive citizen, my


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