The Time is relevant to your deeds!

I have been using the above mentioned phrase regularly for last 50 years and more and I first learnt it from my first angel Late Walter James Cumming(Please read my article - 'Two angels whom I interacted with!') . He taught me that the way we spend time would define our future - time will work with us if we work with time, however, time will ignore us if we ignore it! I diligently believed and followed that saying since I was in the 5th standard. I even repeated this phrase to my students every time I got a chance in the class room as it supports a lesson of life.

Just today itself, my eldest son (who was also a student of mine) reminded me of that phrase and suggested me to put that into an article to enlighten the present day youths. I, myself, derived this philosophy out of it that - 'the fruits we get in life as a direct result of how we spend the time.'

During that time, Darjeeling, my hometown in India did not have much scope for the future and security of our younger generation, so, they spent most of their time in useless discussions or gossipings with each other or in unnecessary co-curricular activities(booze, drugs, procrastination, etc). I'd seen the youngsters playing football or cricket or table tennis and other sports once or twice a week but they never anticipated to land a job like a professional athlete. They did not have even the slightest of faith in that and whenever I wanted to give them some motivation for it, they would rather contradict.

When I started my job as a teacher(always had the ambition), I began to hammer my students with this phrase whenever I could. I worked hard, regularly, even on Sundays. I did a lot of work with my second angel Late Fr. William Bourke SJ in the Bellarmine Language Institute(Please read my article - 'Two angels whom I interacted with!') . At school, I encouraged my students to participate in different activities like poetry recitation, debates, essays and poetry writings, dramas and so on . Today I can say that many of my students are reaping the fruits of their hard work. Our school had 5th standard classes and above, so, kids from different primary schools enrolled there to study. I was the local language(Nepali) teacher for the 5th standard and I frequently taught them the art of reading and writing the language so they would become fluent. So, by the end of the year, they felt comfortable with it and they eagerly participated in various language activities.

My real focus was to make my students understand the value of time , therefore I could not help but emphasize the above phrase to them stating and summarizing that the way we spend time will decide the results in future. For example, if we spend our time in writing poems, we should do so without hesitation but with good guidance and inspiration and give our best as that will shape the outcome. Similarly, if we spend time in dancing, put our complete focus on it, watch the great performers and learn from their styles, then we can invent our own move and style and thrive to greatness. I usually quoted myself as an example for this as I always wanted and had an ambition to become a great teacher and I learnt and was inspired by quite a few in the field.

I like to share an incident of one of my own experiences, whereby, since I was in the 4th Standard, I wanted to try professions like boxing, etc. I practiced a lot of it as it was one of the greatest attractions - one of the main reasons being 'Fly like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee"( I'm sure you know this). But I wasn't very good at this. Mr. Cumming saw me disappointed about this so he said that it wasn't a realistic goal as I did not pour my heart and soul in it, and he asked me to take some time and think what my real ambition was! I thought about it and answered him - 'A Teacher'. He told me the best way to become what we want is to do it right now. So, since I was in 5th standard, I started giving tuition sessions to the youngsters in my village. Since then, my earnest efforts until ,my retirement have borne the best fruit of my life's fulfilment. As a matter of fact, I just spoke to one of those village students of mine yesterday, after a long time, and learnt that she is also presently a teacher and is on the same route! How cool is that!

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