SHONIMA MALHOTRA
“Life is the best teacher, just as it is. It is the toughest teacher. It won’t tolerate slothfulness for long. It’s always throwing some difficult problem your way and then seeing what you will do with it.”? Stephanee Killen, Buddha Breaking Up: A Guide to Healing from Heartache & Liberating Your Awesomeness. Certainly! “Life is a best teacher” is a philosophy that emphasizes the significance of pragmatic learning. It suggests that people gain their most valuable insights and wisdom through their own life experiences, both positive and negative, rather than through formal education and instruction.
Life is classified as the period of living existence from birth until death. The human when born is simply a biological being. It is through the process of socialization that he is converted into a social being. There is no better source of socialization than life itself. We come into this world on our own, we depart on our own. What happens in between is what our lives are made up of. Life teaches us the most important lessons that are there to learn, and thus life becomes the greatest teacher of all. Life, the teacher, is on job from day one of life to penultimate day of life. We are students up to the last moment of life. There is no second opinion about the fact that it is not possible to find a better teacher than life and an education better than through the ‘University of Life’. We can learn ample from this open school, which we can call as society, world, or universe. As scenes created by a great artist could not excel natural scenes similarly what we learn within the educational institutions would never exceed what we learn from life at any time. No doubt, books are considered to be the source of all knowledge, but all that one learns through a book is only of theoretical nature in the form of ideas and concepts. What matters is that we deal with the ideas or representations of real things. Life provides us with enough opportunities to put these ideas, concepts and knowledge into practice in a real environment. For instance, a person who wants to learn cooking can go through various manuals and guides that teach them how to cook, but all this knowledge is useful only when one is actually cooking the food. Learning through experience is always a lot different from learning through books. Real-world experience is the best teacher because it is hands-on and deals directly with our senses and so it becomes real and something we are a part of. I am a Sociology student. Though I have learnt about the subject by pursuing a post graduate degree in the subject and even gained an idea about sociological concepts, perspectives, theories, social problems and much more but it was only when life bestowed me with opportunities to apply this knowledge practically that I could understand have a much better understanding of the subject. To quote an example let’s talk about interactionist perspective. I had studied that under this perspective Goffman talked about dramaturgical approach, Homans talked about exchange approach. But to be honest I understood these concepts when I found them practically applicable in my life. My experiences could relate me to Goffman when he said that life is a stage where we all are actors and stage- manage our lives. Not to talk about others at times even I don’t act my real self. Moving towards Homan’s exchange approach we do exchange rewards and punishments in material and non material ways in our interaction with others. I would like to add that as per my life experience not only humans but even God makes use of this exchange approach. Whenever He bestows some happiness upon us he snatches some very precious thing from us. Life taught me that we are conflicting with each other in the form of competition, disagreement over values etc. and this is how conflict perspective in sociology is actually defined. I understood Social Darwinism and its principle of Survival of the Fittest, Weber’s types of social actions and even Parson’s concept of pattern variables when I actually found myself applying them and saw others applying them in their life.
Every single human being gets enrolled in it with or without his choice. What it would teach is also beyond our control. In fact, its curriculum is very extensive and comprehensive providing us all kind of knowledge. In fact it is so versatile that every day is a new chapter conveying a new lesson. The different people we come across and the myriad of circumstances, situations, events and experiences that we encounter throughout our lives shape our personality and make us the kind of human being that we become. Being part of the social world, we encounter creatures from different walks of life occupying different social statuses in a particular social situation and having different natures. Consciously or unconsciously, each interaction and action do has a learning hidden in it and teaches us something.
One doesn’t understand the world till one live in it. Life experience is important and the best way to learn; I say this because I’ve learnt way more by having getting real-world experiences than I ever did from any educational institution. From my birth to some years of my life I was in the loving and protecting care of my parents and family members and things were planned out for me. My world was small, and I didn’t have much to figure out. I was not exposed to the harsh realities of life and was perhaps too young to understand the intricacies of life. Slowly, I stepped out of that protective environment into the real existing world. I thought I knew some stuff about life, but I didn’t; had to figure out many new things quickly. I discovered that I didn’t know anything about sorting through other people’s work or solving multifaceted problems that started coming my way as I proceeded in the journey of my life. I cannot say about you, but I learnt a lot about myself when I started a job. It was my first time alone, and all my responsibilities were on my shoulders. I had to deal with honest and cunning people: sincere and insincere people; easy and tough situations. It’s only when I moved out that I had a whole new set of problems; like figuring out what to eat, wash the laundry, pay the bills, and everything else that I were responsible for. Moving in a society with other people made me realize how to deal with different people and situations in an effective manner. All this was challenge in itself. The best way to I could know myself in and out was through the authentic experiences because I had no choice but to face them. I have read that the process of education starts at birth and continues throughout life. I feel it’s absolutely true. Even today, my process of learning has not ceased about how to do all sorts of things by simply doing them.
It is undoubtedly the best teacher but at the same time it is innovative. In what ways life would teach it can’t be said. It is not always a straight line. It has multiple curves. It moves by taking different twists and turns that makes us happy and smile at times and sad and cry at other times. At every turn, in every twist, it carries a message. Every situation that we face in our life teaches us altogether a different lesson. Tests, which we face at different phases of our life, are definitely more extensive, difficult and superior to our school and college examinations. We get time to prepare for our school’s or college’s exams as the date sheet for the same is shared beforehand. But we never know what exam life is going to pose next before us. And we have no choice but to take that exam. Though teacher is not visible, there is more invigilance. In a classroom a teacher poses numerous questions to pupil in order to know whether the pupil has understood or learnt the lesson that has been taught. Whereas life poses us question rarely, instead it puts us in one after another situation which needs to be understood and solved through introspection, analysis, discussions, contemplation etc. We humans might fail to teach a lesson to a person but life always succeeds in its attempt. It has a unique way of teaching, which it never reveals. It evolves and adopts entirely different methods, different strategy for everyone. Hence nobody could copy its technique or excel it in teaching. Certain circumstances can turn our lives around a full 360 degrees. We question what happens to us and often say, ‘but why me?’ or ‘why not me?’ We seldom find answers to these questions, but the circumstances that we find ourselves in, however negative or positive, teach us infinite lessons- about ourselves, about others, about our hidden potentialities, about our strengths and weaknesses, ways to deal with the circumstances and overcome them if required. And what’s more, we find ourselves better prepared to deal with things more effectively and efficiently, should a similar situation arise. The way we experience things with our senses brings them closer to home; we feel all the things around us, so we get caught up in them. Put another way, when you do something for real, there is more to it than just an idea because it is much more tangible and relatable.
No doubt, in the early years of life I used to hum these songs but it was just random. It is now at this stage of my life that I realize the beauty, reality and profoundness of these so thoughtfully written lyrics- Zindagi Ka Safar Hai Yeh Kaise Safar Koi Samjha Nahi Koi Jana Nahi Hai Yeh Aise Daggar Chalte Hein Sab Magar—-; Jeena Ke Liye Socha Hi Nahi Gum Uthane Hogein Muskuraya To Muskurana Ke Karz Uttaarna Hogein—-; Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana Yahan Kal Kya Ho Kisne Jana—; Zindagi Ek Paheli Bhi Hai Such Dukh Ki Saheli Bhi Hai —-;Har Ghari Badal Rahi Hai Roop Zindagi , Chaoon Hai Kabhi To Kabhi Hai Dhoop Zindagi—; Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Guzar Jate Hein Jo Mukaam , Wo Phir Nahi Aate, Log Milta Hein Phool Khilte Hein Ek Roz Jo Log Bichar Jaate Hein Wo Hazaroon Ke Aane Pe Milte Nahi, Zindagi Bhar Koi Pukara Kara Unka Naam Wo Phir Nahi Aate—–.
To conclude, life is the premier institution recognized for its distinction in teaching, learning and outreach providing the highest quality education and continuously steering us towards self learning based on essence of antiquity and modernity thereby preparing us for purposeful engagement in futuristic world with an open mind and a balanced perspective. Coaching takes place during our entire lifetime. There is no holiday whatsoever in this school. There is no break at all. We are always kept engaged. Holiday is reserved only at the end of our life. It is for once and only once for all. Death is the ultimate test that one faces in their life.
(the writer is Assistant Professor of Sociology GDC Sidhra).