Now, don’t get me wrong. Here is the full disclosure – I am not trying to denigrate a Tortoise or any animal for that matter. Having cleared the air a little, here is my confession. This is a guest contribution by Victor Solovey as many of my fellow bloggers might have notice I am not blogging as much but I do hope to be back fully in the coming weeks. I am away in Jamaica at the moment and not one hundred per cent myself but will find the time to get back to my normal routine very soon. I will still be doing Round Up so keep on writing that brilliant post they will get notice and get featured here. Thanks again for all your support it is much appreciated.
Hare and the Tortoise
All of us have read this story in which the terribly impressive super-fast hare overtakes the dumb Tortoise but in the end the Tortoise wins. This is a classic story of little John winning instead of the school bully. I can still remember rooting for the Tortoise all the way till the finishing line. Maybe this is one of the reasons why I subconsciously chose to be a Tortoise myself. The outcome has been rather surprising. I found out that in real life the guys who run fast never seem to sleep like the good old hare. This is really frustrating, because you can spend a lifetime waiting for Goddard while nothing happens in between. There can be several outcomes of this scenario. You, the tortoise, waiting for the lottery, while everyone is running around their lives. Yes, running around their lives because no one seems to be running their lives. Its circumstances, stock market, the great financial meltdown, the housing bubble, neighbours divorce, the pretty girl down the street – everything seems to be shaping lives or rather dictating lives. As a Tortoise, I have no option but to walk slowly but steadily toward my goal. There is no audience urging me to go faster, no clapping of hands, no applause – but I will eventually reach there.
The true confession – I am a writer
Now I have let the cat out of the bag. A writer has to be a Tortoise. I have to take it easy, laze around a bit, and watch the world go by, while everyone is so damn busy. There is no point wanting to be a Football star. It won’t happen anyway- I just don’t have the body. But brains are a different matter. I have plenty, though no one will ever give me a standing ovation. Better be a Tortoise, ambling towards the finishing line, all alone but still not lonely. It is a lonely profession. Hitting the keyboard at 100 HIM (hits per minute) which is the peak of my performance. Maybe someday, someone will read my loves and hates, joys, fears, sheer bliss and escape from reality. Are we scripted that way?
It’s a dog’s life
Ah – I mean Tortoise. We have to do our own thing I suppose. Each of us has a script and has to act accordingly. We simply can’t become a hare even if we wanted to. No need to envy your neighbour. His Porsche doesn’t essay his happiness. Maybe he is a sad man within. I for one want to dance to my own music. It’s slow, a salsa swaying ever so gently to the music. But it’s mine. No one can hurry me. Maybe one day, I will rejoice or repent – who knows – the end is still far away.
Victor Solovey is the owner of crazyxhtml , where they do crazy stuff including ‘psd to html’ and ‘psd to wordpress’ conversion. Victor is passionate about his work and also likes to write.
Life is a constant race. Wither your a Hare or a Tortoise the most important thing is that you run the race like no other else. Why does the tortoise when over the hare? Its simply because the Hare becomes full of himself when he thinks that the dumb tortoise are far away from him. He was confident on himself and let his guard down thorough sleeping.
While the tortoise continue the race even if he knew he doesn’t have any match for the hare. He continue until the finish line. May these be a good lesson to all of us.
Interesting comparison 🙂 and a lesson to be learnt for all. We need to be steady in whatever we are doing.
Slow and steady always wins the race. once again great article, I look forward to reading these with my morning coffee.
Very insightful article, Victor, and one that I can relate to myself. I have almost never in my life been the hare. I have always preferred to be the tortoise, taking things at my own pace whenever possible, rather than the speed the rats dictate to me. To that end, I admit I have compromised on certain things but I might have compromised on more things had I chosen to be the hare instead.
Even if that guy in a Porsche is a lucky guy and he really has it all, it doesn’t actually have anything to do with your happiness.
Even if you do strive to have a Porsche and you don’t, him having it has nothing to do with you.
Other people’s happiness doesn’t take away yours.
So just keep it easy if you were made that way.
There are good points in this article. Maybe the tortoise should try driving a Porsche? But to be serious, one thing to focus on is enjoying the journey and not just focusing on the destination, even if that destination is a good one.