Someone must have told you, at some point of your life, that there is someone controlling what you do. That ‘someone’ could be a tangible force like a pair of parents, multiple echelons of family (with varying power and influence) and above all else, there must have been talk of destiny or fate or something equally unnerving in its gigantic vagueness.

            But never, never once have we been allowed to accept full responsibility for all our actions. We’re only allowed to claim the bad for ourselves and the good things we do are always to the credit of Someone Else. This Someone Else has become an institutionalised belief the world over. I have maintained that there is always a God to give credit to, or well wishers to thank, or fate to be marvelled at when a prize is won. When a situation turns out well, we’re conditioned to say ‘Thank God!’ and then maybe even gloss over the sheer brilliance of our own ingenuity. But contrarily, when something terrible happens, it’s all our fault (and I don’t just mean us, young people; I mean people in general).

            It gets worse when you’re a believer in your own abilities. You’re not only labelled as arrogant and ‘too big for your own boots’ but also ridiculed for believing that our abilities are our own to claim. They’re always the product of something/someone else’s hard work and toil.

            It’s time that human beings start thinking about themselves in a little less self deprecating light. And while it is all a matter of perception, there’s a good chance that we can really start making a real difference in the way the world is turning if only we allowed ourselves the sensibility of self awareness of our own power. That way, when something goes right, we won’t waste months and years commenting on the divine intervention that is so apparent in the action and we might just get to doing more good than we are doing now, at this pathetic snail’s pace.

I think, therefore I am. We do, therefore we are.