Rome was not built in a day

A mother caresses her child; mollycoddles him every day. A father tackles his child’s mood swings daily; moves heaven and earth to fulfil his demands. Years after years, they make him sentient of his very role as an individual in this world. One day, he becomes cognizant of his duty as a responsible and learned member of the society. You see, the child does not get eminence without sweat-taking days and nights of his parents. This entire period is all about time-tested endeavours, unswerving determination and infinite patience on the part of his parents. Only then, he becomes an individual imbued with a passion for self-actualization that best smacks of Abraham Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ theory which suggests that when a person’s rudimentary needs of life are fulfilled, he seeks self-actualization, which simply means ‘What a man can be, he must be’. He starts working harder to be in the limelight and makes all endeavours to reach for the skies.

Rome is famous for its timeless beauty. Romans were a leading-edge nation, excelling in medicine, education, military and other disciplines. With its history spanning over 28 centuries, it is fail-safe to say that Rome was not built in a day. It reached its zenith and got prominence only after toils of its inhabitants for years and years.

Man gets depressed at times when he feels that everyone is ahead of him in the race of life; when all his efforts feel worthless to him; when success seems a pipe dream and when life throws lemons everywhere, but he is unable to make the lemonade. This makes him disconsolate and saps his energy and motivation to move forward. But, in these times of distress, he should be mindful of the fact: ‘It is always darkest just before dawn.”

The days of doom and gloom seem longer and destination farther but with temperament and determination, one is blessed with the success one day.

Superpowers like the United States have also experienced days of misery. ‘Great Depression (1929-1939)’ explicates the sorry state of affairs Uncle Sam had to face. The economy stumbled and sagged so much that the public went into a state of famine. Hoovervilles was the talk of the town. Then appeared Franklin D. Roosevelt on the scene, and propounded the radical idea of the ‘New Deal’ that was all about 3R’s – Relief, Recovery and Reform. China also embodies the same case. In the days of tribulation, Mao Tsetung advised his countrymen to grow their own veggies and not to beg from other states, even if they had to eat grass. They worked so hard that today they are an emerging superpower in the world. Projects like One Belt, One Road (OBOR) are a boon for the rising Chinese economy.

Life of Bill Gates was also not peaches and cream. He faced a setback in his business before Microsoft was organized, but his unrelenting efforts bore the fruit and made him among the wealthiest persons in the world. Who knows not that J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ series got rejected by 12 major publication houses. But she did not lose heart and one day her book saw the light of the day. She is known as the most prosperous woman author in England today. Thomas Edison floundered a 10,000 times in his attempt to invent electric light bulb. On the query of a newspaper asking him about giving up in his attempts, he answered with conviction:

“Why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitely over 9,000 ways an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.”

The architectural wonders like Taj Mahal and Leaning Tower of Pisa were also designed in laboursome period of time.

The alpha and omega of discussion is that no great piece of work, no great man emerges on the map of the world without unrelenting determination. It demands perseverance and patience for a great thing to come. Nothing great ever comes from comfort zone. Pain-takers are gain-takers; this is what my teacher taught me. One has to come to grips to achieve one’s goals. Attaining our dearest homeland Pakistan was also a story of years of endeavours of our visionary leaders and the sacrifices offered by our elders. Making this country among those that create histories would also require that our people work hard to make this nation an example for others. Our leadership, bureaucracy, judiciary, scholars and, of course, our youth need to contribute to the national mainstream and obliterate the social evils from the country.

The creation of masterpieces is not the story of a day. Lancelot Whyte writes in his famous essay ‘Where do those bright ideas come from?’ that the creative ideas and projects took years of painstaking temperament of the inventors and discoverers to be produced. Take Richard Wagner, for instance, and the formation of prelude to the “Das Rhinegold”. He conceived the idea of the ring tone after painful time of months suffering from dysentery and other discomforts.

So, have faith in ALLAH ALMIGHTY, give your best and wait for His blessings; success would be yours.