Which is the highest
mountain in the world? Mount Everest?
Which is the biggest desert in the world? Sahara?
If you thought those were correct answers, you are wrong.
Difficult to digest? You are not the only one.
Mount Everest is the highest point above “mean sea level.” It touches a height of 29,029 feet above mean sea level. It is the highest point on earth. It still does not mean it is the highest mountain in the world. Mauna Kea volcano, which stands a mere 13,800 feet above the Pacific Ocean, is the tallest or highest mountain because it also extends 19700 feet down to the ocean floor. Mauna Kea is about 33,500 tall, making it taller than Mount Everest by 4471 feet or 1.36 kilometers. Yet, we keep saying Mount Everest is the tallest mountain. Some readily challenge anyone with a different perception.
What about the Sahara? This story is similar. Sahara is not even the second largest. It comes in a meek third in the contest. The largest desert in the world is Antarctica, with an area of 14,200,000 square Kilometres. The Arctic desert comes second with an area of 13,900,000 square kilometers. The Mighty Sahara Desert comes in third place with 9,200,000 square kilometers. The immediate response that one gets normally is, “How can you call the Antarctica and Arctic deserts?” If you do not believe me, it is time you understand how they define a desert.
What am I talking about?
Facts and figures take seats behind our perception. We are unwilling to moderate our perception based on facts, figures, and truth. Let me lean on the serenity prayer!
Conditioned to accept things as told and resist and challenge anything that even remotely differs from our perception, humans have systematically stripped itself of their ability to sift facts from fiction, chaff from the grain, propaganda from reality, and promises from possible, ignorance fuelling the fear of the unknown. It started in the Stone Age, sustained across ages, crossed cultural and geographical boundaries, and emerged as a pandemic despite all scientific advances. The education systems world over focused on numbers and discarded knowledge, analysis, and absorption. Reluctant to step out of the cocooned comforts of the status quo, man denies himself a better world.
The submerged mountain and the Ice-clad deserts give us a few profound lessons.
If you need to be recognised you need to be visible.
If you are good and your goodness lies hidden deep, you are neither good nor good enough to be recognised.
Facts are forgotten and fiction reigns supreme.
Facts remain facts. It will NOT do you any good unless you publicise those facts.
Antarctica and Mauna Kea do not speak. If you do not speak for yourself, nobody else will. People speak for their competitors and imposters. It can happen to anyone. So, speak when you are good. Speak about your goodness and greatness.
In short, be seen and be heard if you are good and need recognition.
Social media is King. it rules the modern world. The young, adolescents and a large chunk of the adult population are hooked to social media. Assured of anonymity one can access anything on the platform, and there is no end to the types of platforms. One can initiate anything. The content could be genuine. It could also border on the ridiculous. The ludicrous get lapped up fast. The irony is that even the educated actively take part in the frenzy. When trash gets the bulk and momentum, it fills the place with muck.
If the ridiculous can be on media why can't the good be?
Go tell the world if you are good.
Go show the world if you are good.
To those of us who have access to social media, ( That is why you are reading me) it may be time for us to reset.
There are infinite possibilities and they need only infinitesimal efforts. Everything on social media begs just one question. Is it true?
If everyone looks at the truth or even attempts to…The world can be a better place.
For that?
First, don't believe Mount Everest is NOT the tallest Mountain.
Second, don't believe, the Sahara is NOT the biggest desert.
Please check if it is true.
Good evening sir
ReplyDeleteAnother pearl of wisdom. Beautifully articulated. Reflects human nature and the propensity to go with the known, and our conditioned response with ingrained biases. What is unknown is much larger than the known. Kudos sir
Thank you very much for being a consistent reader and motivator.
Delete“Three times under, as he is over” is an old saying in almost every Indian language. Every language has a variant that means the same.
It is mostly used in the negative sense and seldom in the positive.
The fact remains, that more remains hidden than revealed.
Empty vessels make more noise is another universal phrase.
My idea was NOT to promote bragging but to bring about two facts to my readers
There is much more to anything than meets the eye.
Wait a little. Consider a bit. Look for facts. Then judge. Don't they say, fools rush in where Angels fear to tread!
Thank you once again
Very relevant and logically articulated. One needs to project oneself to be recognised though your friends may call you show off. Unfortunately everything on social media is not true so be assured everything one post on the social media may not be believed by others. The trick is continue to project yourself till everyone takes notice
ReplyDelete
DeleteThank you very much for being a consistent reader and promptly commenting and motivating.
I used to believe that goodness would be recognised if not today, then tomorrow. But those rules applied only for times gone by.
Times have changed. It is now time for dragging without even doing. Nature has lessons in plenty. I saw one. I thought I could draw a parallel.
Like you said if you don't shout from the rooftop people won't have time to look at you. They are so consumed with noises on the rooftops.
Didn't somebody say? “ if you can't be at them, join them.”
Thank you once again
Good evening Sir.
ReplyDeleteWhat an insightful perspective! This article challenges commonly held perceptions with fascinating facts about Mount Everest and the Sahara desert. It's a reminder that our beliefs can sometimes overlook the nuances of reality. The analogy drawn between the submerged mountain and ice-clad deserts offers profound lessons about the importance of visibility and speaking up for oneself in today's social media-dominated world. The call to action to seek truth and verify information resonates deeply, urging readers to question assumptions and contribute to making the world a better place. Brilliantly written!
DeleteThank you so much for being a consistent reader, commenting, and motivating me.
You are right.
Most commonly held perceptions may not be near the truth. Ii believe absolute truth is a myth.
The nature, everyday life, and people around us are all walking lessons for daily life. We just need to open our eyes and look around!
Thank you once again
It’s better to be a hen than a duck in the present days of social media dominated world, where even the silliest activity is broadcast as a great accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteThe hens lay their eggs during the day and announce their accomplishment to the entire world around, but the duck, even though does a better job, keeps quiet after the accomplishment.
Mauna Kea and Antarctica - which are the ducks; Mount Everest and Sahara are the hens.
DeleteThank you so much for being a consistent reader, commenting, and motivating me.
Hen or duck! To every man and woman, his or her choice.
Conscience or convenience? That is the question. That is a difficult decision if one chooses conscience.
The content becomes complete only when the context is stitched in.
Yes; you are right. In the contemporary world, whether it “ to tell the brood or share the Joy of pushing out an egg, a bit of noise may not be out of place!
Thank you once again
Human beings are impulsive and react with pre-conceived ideas. Finding the truth should be the second nature of every person. Knowledge is challengeable, wisdom is questionable and there is nothing like gospel truth. The biggest challenge in our life is to define God and to find him alive. We spent our precious time debating my God vs your God vs No God. Social media plays a great role in our perception. But do what anyone feels like, a man will go by what he likes to hear first then try to find the truth. Everyone has their belief system and it is hard to change them. I beg to disagree to subscribe that one has to be visible to be heard. Ego will get attention but to get results one has to be modest. We don't have to beat the trumpet to be noticed nor to make noises to be heard, it is just a matter of time to get recognized. Gandhiji, a paragon of virtues influenced freedom-hungry Indians to follow the path of non-violence without any fanfare.
ReplyDeleteOnce, Truth and Lie meet beside a well. They decided to take a bath together. They undress and start bathing. Suddenly, Lie comes out of the water, puts on the clothes of the Truth and runs away. The hapless Truth comes out of the well and runs everywhere, to find Lie and to get her clothes back. The World, seeing the Truth naked, turns its gaze away, with contempt and rage.
The poor Truth returns to the well and disappears forever. Since then, Lie travels around the world, dressed as Truth, satisfying the needs of society, because, the World, in any case, harbours no wish at all to meet the naked Truth. The moral of this story is that we often either consciously or subconsciously reject certain truths in our personal lives or the world around us for the sake of our peace of mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for being a consistent reader, commenting, and motivating me.
“To be or not to be is the question,” that has haunted all of us with a conscience.
In solitude, man with a heart or conscience may end up asking himself whether what he did or did not do was right or wrong.
In an era when smartness encompasses anything to win, lie takes the cloth (cake) and truth remains the naked truth.
Thank you once again
Jacob what you have written is true but it takes away simpicity from our lives. Advertising becomes more important than the real . Don't know but a complicated and confusing paradox. Anyway thanks for genrating a discussion and giving food for thought. As usual look to more from you
ReplyDeleteActually its been quite a revelation for me to learn about Everest and Sahara.
ReplyDeleteThank you
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