Father Dominic Emmanuel

I am sure most people will agree with me that the year 2010 has not been as bad as some of the newspaper editorials and critics have painted it. In my opinion, every year has its own high and low points. Of course, how one looks at the events of the year depends entirely on one’s outlook towards life, towards people and indeed towards God. What I am trying to say is aptly described by Frederick Langbridge: “Two men looked out of the same prison bars, one saw the mud, the other saw the stars”.

On January 31, 2010, I was travelling in a train from Madhya Pradesh to New Delhi. Due to the Gujjar agitation where protesters blocked railway tracks, the trains were either running late or their routes were diverted. Hence, the travel time increased. As is usual during our lovely train journeys in India (yes only in India), people soon get chatting with each other as if they have known each other for ages. That day, however, I did not joining the co-passengers who began cursing the situation, the government, the Gujjar community. I knew that my inclusion in the above-mentioned discussion will not change the situation, I got curious firstly, to learn the new route the train would be traversing on, passing through new towns and villages. Secondly, I also decided that if I was not absorbed in reading, I would look out of the window and enjoy the beautiful green fields. It is such a soothing site both to the eyes and the heart to observe a sea of green flowing fields to as far as one’s eyes can see.
It also gave me an opportunity to wonder again — a marvel that has never left me since my childhood really — on the great mystery and indeed a miracle of how just any tiny one seed can multiply itself into thousands of seeds or grow into a huge fruit-bearing tree. It immediately brought back to me the scene as described by Jesus in the Bible, “very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”.
Jesus was speaking about the “dying of a seed and bringing new life” in the context of his own sacrificial death on the cross that was to follow but one which would bring new life and new hope to humanity. Among other things that Jesus wanted to teach his disciples was the value of sacrifice in life, even to the extent of death.
The reason we become so cynical and critical in life is because we are so concerned about ourselves, our own comforts, our own interests. And the moment we find that our own turf is slightly disturbed, say for example due to a train running late, or someone demanding our time or sometimes maybe money or indeed challenging our authority, we get into a critical mode. Little do we realise that while these little irritants are always there in life, there are thousands of other beautiful people, places and things that we could engage our attention in or divert our energy to.
While a critical reflection on the events of 2010 and the entire last decade can help us to improve our situation for 2011 and for the coming decade, my own take on looking at reality would be to try and see the positive side of most things. What can surely help us in doing that is for us to peep out of our own selfishness, our own narrow outlook, our own self-gratifying needs. There is a simple but quite enlightening Persian proverb that can help us change our outlook on life altogether. It says, “I complained that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet”. It is also said that life is 10 per cent what you make it and 90 per cent how you take it.
One of the best things we could do for ourselves in the coming year, which could eventually help us build a habit, is to stop complaining about life, people, situations, God, religion and start looking at things positively with the spirit of sacrifice. Unless the seed sacrifices its own existence in its present form, it cannot bear a new plant. It remains only within itself.
In the next column I will reflect on what could be some of the positive things we could do to begin another decade of our lives.

— Father Dominic Emmanuel, a founder-member of Parliament of Religions, is currently the director of communication of the Delhi Catholic Church. He was awarded the National Communal Harmony Award 2008 by the Government of India. He can be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com