Question

Discuss the following topic in groups of five and choose a representative to sum up the view and share them with the class.

Successful people neither brood over the past nor worry about the future.

Answer 1

Mahatma Gandhi and his followers were arrested and jailed many times. Gandhi’s followers were brutally lathi-charged. Gandhi had decided to silence the guns of the British with Ahimsha passive non-violent resistance. The brutal suppression of the struggle for freedom did not dishearten Gandhi. He did not brood about the strength of the British army and the weaknesses of unarmed peasants who believed in his leadership. He was a Karmayogi. Whatever the duty to be done it must be done with steadfast devotion and sincerity. Other leaders got worried. Some angry young men resorted to violence.

They burnt down a police station at Chauri chakra too. But Gandhi declared a fast unto death. He plunged into action. If he had worried about the unpleasant developments, he wouldn’t have launched Quit India Movement or Salt Satyagraha effectively.

Thomas Alva Edison was not able to find the element that would glow if electricity was passed. He had failed 1000 times to invent the bulb. But he said, “The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps”. Each step taught him what did not work. He lost his hearing capacity. He had many failures. His teachers believed him to be mad and unteachable.

His entire schooling was only a few years. His mom taught him and made him believe in himself. This man who had been ill-treated in school and faced many challenges had no time to brood. He went on to make 1093 inventions and got them patented. Those who are busy building facilities for transforming the world have neither the time nor the inclination to brood about failures or about possibilities of success in the future.