Tanya Krishna

The Life As It Is!!

As said by George Bernard Shaw, “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating

yourself.” Life never waits and never gives second chances. And so, human beings are expected

to live a life that is not regretful and is full of passion. The two essays, i.e., “The Death of the

Moth” by Virginia Woolf and “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and me” by Sherman

Alexie gives a real picture of how life can be as beautiful as we would want it to be.

In the essay, “The Death of the Moth”, the author takes a tiny insignificant creature in order to

describe the real essence of life. Such a small creature is so content with his short spanned life

and lives his life to the fullest. I believe that every life is bestowed upon with some purpose. And

the moth fulfills the purpose of his life, be it just flying across the room from one corner to

another. He performs his duty with full commitment.

“Every man dies. Not every man really lives.”

By: William Ross Wallace

The statement, “The possibilities of pleasure seemed so enormous and so various that to have

only a moth’s part of life, and a day moth’s at that appeared a hard fate, and his zest in enjoying

his meager opportunities to the full, pathetic” makes me feel the real essence of life that is shown

through a moth. Life of a moth that is so small is in itself a hard fate that no human being can

even imagine to live such a life. And the moth lives that life to the fullest, leaving no regrets

behind, and ultimately accepts the death! The eagerness and willingness of the moth to enjoy this

meagre opportunity is really commendable. To a human being for whom such a vast life too is

less, this life of the moth is pathetic and does not mean much. But with the same life, a moth

brings out the full essence of life and also becomes an epitome of a great life which is wished for

by all humankind. This is the true nature of life which is showcased by a moth; what he can do

he does it. And after fulfilling his purpose of life, he fades down and ultimately surrenders to

death.

Unlike human beings who are always on a look out for excuses so as to get away from

responsibilities and for the faults in their life, the moth lives a life of satisfaction and finally

surrenders to death without regrets and complains. On the contrary, the human beings have a fear

of death and could never surrender to death with full satisfaction and happiness.

Relating to the same vigil and positivity for life, I came across this other statement, “I refused to

fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky.” From the essay “The Joy of Reading and Writing:

Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie which is a story of a boy who is living on the Spokane

Indian Reservation in eastern Washington state. He was poor and was always expected to be

silent. Though he learned to read at an early age, being an Indian boy living on reservations, in

spite of being a prodigy he was nothing more than oddity. In a Gender biased society of

America, he was always expected to remain quiet while the Americans were supposed to move

ahead. But this boy refused to fail, and stay back! He was arrogant; he was smart and never

accepted the defined status for him and his family. He challenged his fate and embraced the

difficulties of life as it came by. He never bent down in front of the atrocities of life. He always

stood up for his rights and ultimately made his life worth living and now that he is a writer, these

high society privileged people are reading his novels, stories and poems. Writing was something

beyond Indians in those times and yet he is a known writer now.

As I went through these essays, it suddenly struck my mind how I, in the early phase of my life

always had immense problems with my life, sometimes from my family and sometimes outside

the family. I never gave my full myself to overcome that hurdle unlike the moth who fought with

the situations to overcome the negativity of life and finally when he gave himself to death, he

was fully contented and satisfied with his life. But when I actually realized the worth of this life,

my life became my very own. And now that I know what the value of life is, that life is really

great keeping aside the duration of the same- whether short or long. Each moment is to be lived

to the maximum so as to die without regrets and welcome the death happily.

This reminds me of times when I was in my 10th grade. I was a kid but life then too was not at all

simple and easy going. I was the class representative and captain of one of the school houses and

that made me a member of the school cabinet and one of the favourites of the teachers. All this

does sound fancy; but there is the other hard part of this rosy picture. One of the groups

including my ex-best friend in my class used to envy me and used to do everything possible so as

to degrade my record as a class captain. From the very beginning, I was a person who hates

hostile surrounding and I tried by all means to get the things right, but all in vain. But this never

shattered me but on the contrary, made me even stronger. There was always a benevolent force

somewhere within me telling me that there is no reason to be afraid of, whatsoever. And as of

now, the same class mates came forward after a long 3 years to talk to me and for admitting that

it was foolish of them to do that because of such silly reason. And this made that force within me

stronger.

As said by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you

perform, the better.” And that’s what I make sure to do. Not thinking about the consequences, I

prefer living in the moment. Life not only is about living in the moment but also making each

moment worth living. As the boy in our second reference reading, we should fight against all

odds and move forward so as to have a greater command over our life. Compromising with the

situations and trying to stay happy and contented with whatever is being levied upon us is not the

right option to opt for. There has to be a way or one should think of a way to come over the

negativity faced in life. Silent spectator in the world can never survive with dignity and self

respect and they are ultimately quashed by the world.

I was never so encouraged by my family to take up “journalism” as a career option, and not even

my choice of “political science” as honours course for graduation was much encouraged. I was

expected to go for “MBA” as my carrier option by my parents. But I never gave away to that

pressure and convinced my parents and family for what was good for me. Even for some minute

episodes in my life, I knew how to alter the situation and divert it to my privilege, and that’s how

each and every individual should and must work towards their goals and achieve what is best for

them in every sense. Every person has this great force within them that is always present to guide

you and provide you with ample energy required, the need is to let that force come up so as to

lead you to what is best for you.