Does light at the end of the tunnel necessarily mean that there is darkness at the beginning? columnist Saahil Waslekar questions.
We were into the first five minutes of the New Year and I was at Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, celebrating. There were a million people, the stage was lit in pink, blue, green, white floodlights and then as if the final school bell had gone off for summer vacation, out of nowhere, in the southern sky, to our right, the most eye catching array of fire crackers sparkled over the city skies.
The crackers made flowers and fountains in the night sky. The atmosphere was electric. It was all so beautiful, except, before me, stood a significantly tall man, hampering my view of the fire crackers.
Now, I do not recollect from whom, when or where I subscribed to the belief that the first hour of the year is a summary of the entire year, but significantly enough, this tall man, was doing a fine job in holding me to my beliefs.
The first few minutes of the New Year that had already ticked by provided me with a solid guiding light that this year is going to be filled with resourceful hard-work and a most desirable end result, better than expected. I am convinced. As soon as I got back to Lund and until the final hour of January, there never was a single hour to rest.
Amidst this most hectic month, there have been two points of overarching comfort.
The first being that, all the work being done was an investment for results in the future. The second and more important, being conscious of what was enabling in moving forward. Predominantly, inbred characteristics play a pivotal role in an individual’s success.
Although, as these certain qualities are so integral in a person, they are not always remembered. Instead and more significantly, experiences in every individual’s daily journey should strike a chord which should be recognised as the formula for progress.
Let’s call each of these experiences a ‘Lighthouse Moment’. It is that assured moment to an individual when he or she realises the importance of a recent experience, to the extent that lessons from this experience enables the individual to see themselves one lightyear in the future.
Hope is synonymous to such a vision based forward moment. In essence, every journey whether or not through a tunnel always has light. It is upon us to find the lighthouse that will power us a lightyear into the future.
There is light at the beginning, through the journey and at the end of the tunnel.
