What burdened Tom Sawyer, more than the daunting
enormity of the ‘job’ at hand, was the ignominy of doing it when “all
the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life... [1]” and all the other children were
free to be themselves.
'Whitewashing the fence’, is a classic illustration of human behavioural dynamics. Simple words. Great impact.
Nothing
much has changed. Localise characters and language, the spirit of ‘whitewash’
yet remains.
Differentials That Hurt
There are occasions when we find ourselves burdened. Interestingly, it’s during such ‘groan and mourn’ times that we tend to notice others with ‘spring in their steps’ and ‘song on their lips’. Immersing ourselves in self-pity and oblivious to their burdens, we presume everyone else is happy. Accept it or not, it is the differential, assumed happiness of others compared to our misery, that make situations seem even more grave than it really is. The very thought of their happiness, can fill us with even more misery. Little do we realize that our situation may not be as bad as we make it out to be and others may not be as happy as we think they are.
Hopeless
– People Not Situation
Tom
could have been the object of ridicule through the day and beyond if he had
played victim. In fact “life to him
seemed hollow, and existence, but a burden" till
the "inspiration burst upon him". To turn the tide and reap benefits from a
seemingly hopeless situation, it took only a change in perspective. What could
have been a day of ridicule, became richly rewarding. A mere change in
perspective brought reverence streaming in.
A
hopeful individual in a seemingly hopeless situation, can swing it around.
Ridicule
to relevance and relevance to reverence, merely through a change in
perspective?
Relevance in Re-inspiring
Real
life is no different.
Pained,
hopeless and seemingly left to fend for ourselves, we give up easily.
Perpetrators would even seem to reap dividends from our miseries. Flailing
hands and wailing loud, we bang our heads at locked doors instead of looking
for ways around. We surrender decision making to others and let them take
charge of our lives. We conjure situations allowing others to determine our
ways and blame them for our miseries. Often, we are part of the problem. At
times we are the problem. Then, finding solutions becomes difficult. We are cruel
to ourselves.
Only we can cerate a way out of the quagmire we create for ourselves. All it
needs to get out of the self-consuming vortex of destruction is to reimagine
situations, restate problems and reengineer responses. In other words, all it
takes to find a way out of problems is to be aware of one’s own role and
relevance in re-inspiring oneself. Each one of us has a Tom within.
Philosophy
of Life
Creating
a narrative diagonally opposite his core belief, Tom puts on a deliberate act
to convey his ‘belief’ to the onlookers. He almost slips on it but retrieves
the situation just in time to initiate the windfall. It is said creating a
facade is easy but maintaining it authentically is very difficult. It is easy
to be what one believes in. But when one is not and needs to turn things
around, it is wise to act till it becomes a fact.
The
best way forward is to create a narrative, believe in it and live by
it.
For
most readers, ‘Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ is nothing more than a gripping
tale of a mischief maker. Focused on likely questions and marks to be scored
in ensuing examinations, teachers and students, world over could have easily glossed over and missed the great wisdom hidden in the mundane Saturday morning act, Mark Twain
painted. Hidden for lesser mortals but glaring for the awakened, lie therein
some great mantras for success and happiness.
‘Tatvamasi’
for the literate is only a word and for the seeker, the whole world.
[1] All references in this article are to
the novel ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ written by Mark Twain Published in
1876
