True resolve can never be defeated
International Day of Persons with Disabilities (Dec 3) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations with an aim to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities.
Once upon a time in a concentration camp, there lived a prisoner who, even though he was under sentence of execution, was fearless and free. One day he was seen in the middle of the prison square playing his guitar. A large crowd gathered to listen for, under the spell of the music, they became as fearless as he. When the prison authorities saw this, they forbade the man to play. But the next day, there he was again, singing and playing on his guitar with a larger crowd around him. The guards angrily dragged him away and broke his fingers.
Next day he was back, singing and making what music he could with his bleeding fingers. This time crowds were cheering. The guards dragged him away again and smashed his guitar. The following day he was singing with all his heart. What a song! So pure and uplifting! The crowd joined in and while the singing lasted, their hearts became as pure as his and their spirits as invincible. So angry were the guards this time that they injured his tongue. A hush descended on the camp. To the astonishment of everyone, he was back at his place the next day swaying and dancing to a silent music that only he could hear. And soon everyone was holding hands and dancing around his broken figure in the centre while the guards stood rooted to the ground in wonder.
The late English off-spinner Fred Titmus lost his toes in a freak boat accident in the Caribbean during England’s tour to the West Indies in 1960s. He didn’t give up and continued to play and bag wickets. A schoolboy with a polio-stricken right hand went on to become one of the greatest Indian bowlers the game has seen – he is BS Chandrasekhar.
Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was born with a slight bend in the arm and despite unnerving comments on his rather unconventional bowling action by players and umpires, he went on to bag 800 scalps in Test cricket! A no mean feat by any means. Recently, India’s blind women cricketers created history by winning the first-ever Blind Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup.
Tennis great Martina Navratilova once said, “Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.” The human spirit often rises tallest in the face of adversity. American President Theodore Roosevelt observed, “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
A famous example of perseverance comes from the life of English historian Thomas Carlyle. After entrusting the completed manuscript of The French Revolution: A History to philosopher John Stuart Mill, it was accidentally destroyed –reportedly by a domestic help. Carlyle did not give up. He rewrote the entire manuscript from scratch, producing the monumental work we read today.
As Rabindranath Tagore reminded us, adversity cannot diminish the strength of the human spirit. He wrote, “Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them.” Ultimately, human beings may be challenged, even broken, but true resolve is never defeated.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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