The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

"Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness."

This quote by Pearl. S. Buck tells of the stark reality of the present times. We live in a funny world, where comparisons are done for almost everything. If a child stands second in her class, she's compared with the one who stood first. If a person gets five hundred rupees as pocket money, he compares his money with his friend who gets seven hundred as pocket money. If Mr. X gets a package of 10 lacs, he compares himself with Mr. Y, who is getting 12 lacs!

But one thing should be noticed, that comparing ourselves with others does not always do good to us. Instead it ruins the joyous moments and spoils our precious time. Instead, the student who stood second can be appreciated and encouraged to get even better. The person getting lesser pocket money, should get satisfied with what he is getting. Mr. X should think of those who even lesser packages and do his work efficiently with the hope that his good work will get him praises.

Life gets simpler and easier if only we decide to make it simpler. But in spite of that, we look at others and find their lives and situations much better than ours. We find others living a happier life, with more facilities and luxuries. No matter what a person has, he always compares himself with others and finds their lives better. This proves that, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

When I was a small kid, I remember my mother saying that humans are selfish creatures. No matter what a person has got in his plate to eat, he will always find the other plate interesting and more delicious. This clearly defines human nature, that he is never satisfied with what he has. He feels saddened by comparing himself with others. And that sadness leads him towards jealousy. The person starts envying someone who has got more than what he possess. This takes him towards depression. But one should realise that such ill feelings do no good to them.

Possessing such extreme attitude won't improve his situation. He'll continue to be that same human with the same circumstances. Instead he should be contented with what he has. Because happiness would go away with materialistic things but contentment would stay forever. A person who compares himself with the one having more than him should start comparing his life with those who do not enjoy even those smaller things. As perfectly said by Oprah Winfrey, "Be thankful for what you have, you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never have enough."

I remember reading of the days when socio religious reform movements started in India. We were facing many problems, social evils, degraded social status of women, illiteracy and what not. The need of imparting western education was felt by reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Gopal Krishna Gokhale. They wanted Sanskrit to be replaced by English, in schools. Because, they thought that western education would give better future scopes to Indian youth. It would get easier for the Indian youth to compete with Europeans in examinations.

Then came reformers like Swami Vivekananda and Dayanand Saraswati who were not in favour of western education. They believed that instead of looking at western countries and adopting their systems, India should revive her own rich culture and heritage. Our Vedas and Indian culture were rich enough to show the Indian youth the right path and uplift them.

So, what does it tell? It shows that even if our lives appear dull to us, we should try our best to bring changes in it and improve our conditions. Even if things are not falling at the right place initially, working hard shouldn't be stopped. And in the end, we would only see positive results for us. We might initially think that the grass in greener on the other side of the fence, but that does not mean we sit idle and hopeless. Instead we should make efforts to make our grass equally greener. With this, it means that if someone has set high standards, we should take it sportingly and try reaching that level.

We often wish of a greener environment for our future generations. But with our persistent actions and efforts only we'd be able to gift them a cleaner and greener environment. Like wise, many talk of women empowerment. That does not mean going out on the streets with huge posters and slogans. If you raise a girl child proudly, give her the best possible education and job opportunities, that would empower a women.

It should be noted that everyone has flaws and no earthly being is perfect. One might see others' situations as perfect and flawless. We might only see the 'greener grass' but fail to see the 'reasons' behind the greener grass. Comparisons, leading to jealousy, is it the end of the story? Can a person not look upto him and get inspired from his success story? Following his footsteps might take him to better situations.

Same goes for the international scenario as well. We very well know that, no country is perfect. Each nation lacks something or the other. Though Industrial revolution started in Britain but it lacked in raw materials, so had to depend over other European countries, Africa and Asia for its needs. Same way, India lacks in the field of technology. So, she signs agreements with nations like Russia, Japan for sharing their technology.

This gives a strong message, even if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, in today's world, there's no point in restricting yourself to this side of the fence. There's no point in envying seeing what others have got. Instead, learning from them and working hard should be increased manifolds.