Imagine a man as a colored canvas in the middle of a square at noon. Depending on the color of the canvas, it will attract or repel the sun’s rays. Darker canvases reflect less light, while lighter ones reflect more. Now, envision that man is the canvas and the sun is the world. The sun’s rays represent all the elements of the world, such as people, things, and other leisure activities that surround us. The color of our canvas is composed of basic elements: upbringing, beliefs, intelligence, and energy.
Our canvas is particularly influenced by the environment in which it is placed, an indirect internal factor known as the influence of the environment. It is crucial to position the canvas at an optimal distance from the sun; too close, it will burn, and too far, it will not absorb enough energy. Therefore, finding a balance and establishing a harmony of colors that we display is essential, as they regulate our distance from the sun, i.e., the world.
Choosing the right place to set up the canvas, whether it is a desert, a city square, or a riverbank, represents carefully selecting the environment and people we surround ourselves with because they influence us. During the evolution of man, his relationship with the environment and himself changes. Values that were once esteemed are now less valuable, and perhaps even worthless.
Every era carries its beautiful but also challenging moments. There has always been cruelty in the world, let us not forget that. We must remember that we are also a small world and that we experience the history of the world through our lives. Our first encounter with other people, apart from family, was probably in kindergarten or a playground. There, we could make friends but also encounter unpleasant children who would insult us, steal toys, and play tricks. It was similar in school, and later, when we became mature individuals, started supporting ourselves, or founded a family, started a business, we surely experienced all these positive and negative things even more.
In today’s time, when traditional values such as intelligence and kindness are no longer appreciated, we, as positive individuals, need to use them carefully. We must understand that the world around us, and often our own home, can sometimes be a hostile environment. We are not warriors who need to fight because I believe that these negative phenomena most often arise from insufficient social, emotional, and intellectual development of individuals. We should actually try to influence these elements as much as possible to “calibrate” them and bring them to acceptable behavior. If that is not possible, we should keep them at a safe distance or completely remove them from our environment.
I have heard sayings like “A smart person and a fool are brothers” or “A good person tells you everything they think, while a wise person tells you only what you need to know.” In management school, we learned that there are generally two types of beings: “There are those who rule and those who are ruled.” When I first heard this saying as a student, I began to think about my place under the sun. I realized that this is not far from the truth. I decided that, regardless of the role I play in society, whether I am a son, father, worker, athlete, or driver, I would be in the first group. Because it is better to rule than to be ruled by others.
Of course, it is impossible to be in that advantage in every sphere of life and situation, but since it is a process and it takes time, it is necessary to constantly work on regulating our skills and conquering territory step by step, thoroughly. So, we need to start with our attitudes. People from well-bred environments often nurture kindness and justice as fundamental traits on which their relationship with others is based. But since we live in the world as it is, we need to modify this understanding and realize that we cannot be successful, good, or just if we apply these traits in a raw form. It is necessary to encapsulate them and cover them with a shell that will retain that noble trait but adapt it to the person, situation, and society.
Achieving a good deed today is difficult to do in one step because it may be thwarted at the very start. People, on a basic level, are less and less part of family values, which were once said to be the basic cell of society, and more and more individualists with short attention spans and frequent changes in the course of their actions. Even Jesus Christ, sending his apostles into the world to spread faith in God, advised: “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
Consciously and rationally use traits. Be ready to sometimes “act” to achieve the desired noble state. Generally, there is another rule: Adapt to society or adapt society to yourself. Depending on our plans and potentials, prospective individuals should adapt society to themselves as much as possible. Because what is society but a group of people following the idea of the “loudest,” which is often wrong. Many successful people say that when they see they are behaving like the majority, they wake up because they know that is not the path to success. Most successful people, such as scientists, spiritual leaders, musicians, and businessmen, are very different from the majority and nurture specific traits and views on life. They have a special relationship with what they do, as well as great passion and inspiration to learn because the more they achieve success, the more they realize how much more there is to learn. They have probably heard the old saying: “I know that I know nothing.”
In conclusion, stay good and believe in positive things, but view these traits as tools you will use in social interaction. Dedicate yourself to yourself and love yourself so that others will love and respect you. If you encounter people who do bad things, do not judge them immediately, but understand that there is probably a deeper reason, most often some trauma, especially from childhood, or dissatisfaction. Let us try to explain to them that their life depends solely on them. An unhappy, lonely person cannot think they will be happy when they meet a partner who will bring them that happiness. Because happiness depends solely on us, and we, as unhappy, cannot make a partner happy or be useful in a company if we expect someone else to make us happy. Make yourself happy, love yourself, and you will shine. You will be like the sun and create the world around you.
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