American
singer and actor Reba McEntire identified wish, guts and humour as the three
ingredients of success. She called them “wishbone, backbone and funny bone.”
Life is a
struggle from birth to death. It is a struggle against all sorts of hurdles and
pitfalls that inevitably come our way. In order to overcome those hurdles and
pitfalls, we need dreams, guts and humour.
There are
plenty of examples from history to illustrate this. Let me take an old example:
the family of King Edward I of England and his wife. Queen Eleanor (1241-1307)
bore 16 children between 1255 and 1284. She lived in palaces, ate the best
food, had all the luxury she could wish for in those days, and also had an army
of servants and the best of doctors. Yet her children died one after another.
1. First daughter died in
1255 at birth.
2. Daughter Catherine died in
childhood, did not live beyond the age of 3.
3. Another daughter Joan died
at the age of six months.
4. Son John died at age 5.
5. Son Henry died at age 6.
6. Daughter Eleanor died at
age 29.
7. Another daughter died at 5
months of age.
8. Yet another daughter,
again named Joan, managed to live up to the age of 35.
9. Son Alphonso died at age
10.
10.
Daughter Margaret went on to live up to 58.
11.
Next daughter, Berengeria, died at age 2.
12.
Next daughter died at birth.
13.
Another daughter, Mary, lived till 53.
14.
A son died at birth.
15.
Daughter Elizabeth died at 34.
16.
Son Edward was the first of the boys to survive and he went
on to become King Edward II.
Paradoxically
Edward II didn’t live long too. He was murdered by his own wife, Isabella of
France.
That’s a very
old example. Today the situation would be quite different. Your children or
relatives or other close ones may be killed in a bomb blast, mob lynching,
nationalist fervour, or a train derailment. Some evil or the other is always
lurking behind the corner. We have to struggle against those ineluctable evils.
Wish, guts and
humour help much in those struggles. The wish to go on, the wish to win, the
wish to make sense of what is happening to you – yes, the wish is vital. So is
courage without which you will give up again and again. Humour is the best
weapon with which you can arm yourself on this perilous journey called life. If
you can laugh, you can go on and on. Even if life warps your smiles
occasionally, keep smiling, it helps on the way.
PS.
Written for In(di)spire Edition 272:
To succeed in life you need three things: a wishbone, a
backbone and a funny bone - Reba McEntire - Can you relate to this quote?
#ThreeBones
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| My latest book: a memoir Available at Amazon |
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