The Case Defence

“What a great coincidence! I had never believed I would ever bump into you.”

“I am equally surprised by this chance occurrence. All the more reason to believe in the power of miracles!”

“Our faces have completely changed, but I recognized you immediately.” The voice is unmistakably yours!”

“There is a reason why people say a person always stays true to his nature.”

“So, where have you been all these year? And what have you been up to?”

“It is a long story and I would not be able to do justice in this short meeting.”

“Tell me briefly.”

“Ok, let me make a concise start. I was trying to discover myself and got even more lost.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Well, I tried to stitch together my loose ends but they unravelled more. To talk more sense, I tried to hold on to idealism but it failed to support me. But that does not mean that I am making a case against idealism. The moment we stop seeing dreams that is the end of it all!”

“Well, that’s a lot of philosophy! I never knew you were a philosopher!”

“The thing is, everybody hides a philosopher underneath. It’s only a matter of revealing it in due time. How have you been, if I may ask?”

“Not too different. Actually, I long accepted the idea that pragmatism is the way to go in this world.” I decided to go the way of public demand and I made a few bucks. Not to say that I have stepped out of idealism completely but very close to it.”

“Well. This is a bold thing to do for especially a person like you who liked to brag bout his sense of commitment to the world”

“Life can change you completely. I am myself surprised at how different I have become as compared to how I acted years ago.”

“I must say, I have managed to hold on to my ideals but I have paid a price. Great things need sacrifice and I have done exactly that.”

“Are you by any means charging me of ineptitude or something? I am only saying that I embraced the way of the world. Maybe I do not have as much resistance as you."

“To be honest, sometimes, I do have a yearning for the life I could have led.”

“Well, you cannot ride your horse and bind it. You must set your priorities.”

“When I look at the world around me, I am perplexed to see the huge variety of success stories.”

“Some of them actually slaved away and others just got there by pure chance. All have their own stories to tell and they cannot be boiled down to any formula.”

“Success always has been an enigma but at the same time is pursued by all.”

“What about money?”

“Money comes in the end but takes away so much with it.”

I have been at its receiving end. There were times in my life when I literally shrugged off my life long companions to earn a few dollars more. I am still living with the shame.”

“What about relationships?”

“Well, they are the ones that need to be nurtured.” In our busy life, I often wonder so many relationships have just wilted away due to lack of watering. Our everyday commitments have cast a pall on all of them. The extent of the loss is hammered home only when one is in desperate situation.”

“I don t know why man does not realise the loss when the rub of the green is with him. Why he is made to regret all the time? Why cannot he mend himself before he gets hurt?”

What do you think, is the problem?”

“The problem resides not in the stars but in ourselves as Cassius said in Julius Caesar. We have scripted our own doom quite willfully and happily."

“Actually there are so many temptations and desires to fulfil that a person is lost in their gratification. By the time, he starts realizing what he has lost he is too sickly or aged.”

“I think, part of the problem is living in the past or being frantic about the future. We have failed to live in the present. Despite all that the sages say we fail to act upon their advice.”

“And then our ego, comes in the way!”

“We start making big strides on the road in the flush of success and are swept away by the tide. As we lift our feet off the ground we become ground less and then fail to look below us.”

“We get reminded on the way but those warning signs fail to jolt our oversized egos out of their smugness.”

“We begin with losing friends, then well-wishers and in the end we are left all alone.”

“But nobody else is responsible for this mess. We are to be blamed”

“We often make restarts but they are worse than the first start.”

“I often get exhausted by this mad race and I start questioning myself about the utility of this approach. Although, I have reinvented myself in the image of the hard core realist, sometimes I wish to release my hibernating idealism.”

“Then why did you abandon it in the first place?”

“I did not part ways with it intentionally. It was the lesson I learned the hard way. Everything around me was just supporting the appearance of things and getting by, whereas I was stuck in the middle neither here nor there.”

“Well. I managed to hang on to it a little better but I must say that I did not listen to the voices outside much.”

“How you managed to remain immune to such pressures?”

“Because, I knew in the hearts of my hearts that I was making the right move. May be, for a short while I won’t be able to make an impression but all the same I was making an internal impression and that was the all important thing.”

 “I must salute your guts today. I must admit that I bowed down to the first gust of wind that rubbed me the wrong way.”

“There are always two ways to choose from. The one is straight forward and the other convoluted. Most of the people take the straight road but they are only looking at the short term gains. The long distance runner always looks at the wider picture and goes the full hog. He is the one who is later sung in books whereas the short cutters are forgotten like a bad lesson of history.”

“You are spot on, my friend! However, only a few people can survive the rough rides of this world with such a bold, candid and open mind and you have managed to do such that.”