IMPOSSIBLE IS JUST AN OPINION

Nobody really expected this outcome. Neeraj Chopra, competing with the world javelin throw record holder, had won the Olympic gold medal. But what really surprised everyone is that Neeraj had never thrown over 90m in his life while Vetter had a record of 97m. Had Neeraj thought this feat impossible and never tried at all, India would have been deprived of history.

Impossible, the feeling that how much ever we try, our effort will not bear fruit, is a common feeling among all of us, at certain points in our life. But man’s story has been filled with outcomes that were thought to be impossible.

Who thought an ape would become an intelligent, moral species one day? But man did that through intelligence and patience. But he never stopped. Living as a hunter-gatherer, then moving to a farm, setting up nation-states, and developing technological prowess demonstrate his will to make the impossible come true.

Also, humanity has had the blessing of having some great people who changed the course of history. Thomas Alna Edison, a school dropout, made an electric bulb. Gandhi freed India from the shackles of colonialism, with his weapon of non-violence. All these people proved their might.

But if we have had such great men and great stories, why is it that “impossibility” is the wider opinion among the people? A reason is that people lack belief in themselves and their capabilities. Sunday Adelaja once said - “many of us will not realize who we are because we lack belief in ourselves”. A lack of self-confidence prevents us from taking the right actions and forces us to give up on our endeavors. Even the great Hanuman witnessed a crisis of confidence in seeing the vast ocean.

Having a true assessment of our capabilities, and faith in the amount of hard work we have put in is essential for success. Harehala Hajjaha, a person, without any formal schooling, sold oranges to set up a school in his village. Clearly, education did not come his way because he had confidence and a purpose in his life.

Also, many of us are avid imaginers. We decide the outcomes of our efforts beforehand. The fear of facing negative outcomes holds us back from action. A child, learning to take his\her first step is fearless. He\she does not fear falling and ultimately learns to walk. Detaching ourselves from the outcomes of our efforts is necessary for any success. This is the core of the Bhagwad Gita. If we give up fear, the impossible truly becomes an opinion.

But for some unfortunate people, their surroundings bring their downfall. Human beings built society to develop unity. Unfortunately, the same society places its expectations on every one. The fear of disappointing our families, our neighbours, or even society, acts as a barrier to achieving results.

We need to understand that our efforts are ours alone. What society thinks does not matter, if we know we have been truthful in our pursuits. Even if success does not come, it is we who can introspect and re-channel our efforts. If people like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Mary Kom had given up after facing pressure from their families, sports would be deprived of such great talents.

And some of us have already given up before even facing the competition. Such people live with a pessimistic approach to life. They have no hope, no optimism to continue. They don’t lack the capability, they just don’t have the will to go on. Albert Camus said- “a person devoid of hope and conscious of being so has ceased to belong to the future”.

It was hope that gave the people to live on and wait for a better tomorrow. The Jews, affected by the tortures of Adolf Hitler, did not lose hope and went on to establish an independent Israel. Chutni Mahato, paraded naked in her village, accused of witchcraft, did not lose the will to live and set up an NGO to save women from witchcraft branding. If humanity is devoid of hope of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level, it would be deprived of survival.

But for many of us, things will remain impossible. It is because our approach to life is wrong. We expect fast results and when we don’t get them, we call the task “impossible”. A stone has to bear the brunt of a hammer several times to become a beautiful sculpture. A lack of patience and perseverance does not transform into success.

Also, some of us are unwilling to come out of our shells. We fear taking the road not taken. We find comfort and security in our shells. But we forget, staying away from risk is staying away from creativity. And it is creativity which makes the impossible, possible. Who would have thought that space would become a tourism hub until people like Richard Branson and Elon Musk decided to pursue their vision. They were willing to invest in the unknown and hence excelled.

Some of us are plagued by the habit of comparing ourselves with others. We think that if somebody else did something and we are not able to do it, truly the task is impossible for us. We forget that everybody is different, meant for something different. Also, we all have our pace of learning. But unfortunately, people driven by the desire to perform better than the rest may not succeed. Their aim is to be better than others rather than improve themselves. For them, many tasks will remain impossible.

The road to possibility goes through the check posts of patience, detachment, hard work, perseverance, honesty in efforts, and hope. Every crisis is an opportunity to change our attitudes and cultivate these values. The one who is able to do so will find the world in his feet but the person who abandons this road will continue to spread the myth of impossibility.

Swami Vivekananda’s words are an eye-opener to a person believing in this myth. “All the powers in the universe are already ours, it is me who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark”

So let us open our eyes, walk down the road of hope and make the impossible possible.