Dreams are an interesting phenomenon. No matter how vivid or horrible they are, we tend to forget most of them as soon as we wake up in the morning. Nevertheless, some of the simplest of the lot do get engraved on our mind and end up giving us a memory of a lifetime. Similar was that dream. Rock, Paper and Scissors were quarreling with each other on the issue of ‘Superiority.’
Rock, being the most stubborn and rigid of the lot, was boasting about its strength and might in front of the other two. His heft and endurance against outside blows were unquestionable. But Paper wasn’t any less either. With flexibility and ability to grasp, he also had a very unique quality that no one else possessed. Simplicity and adaptability of paper were an icing on the cake. And finally, Scissors were bragging about its astute and sharp personality. It’s proficiency to mend ways through adverse situations and to emerge out as a winner were stronghold points for them to not let go off the title very easily.
Meanwhile a Snake, standing nearby, was observing every bit of the argument very closely. Seeing it going nowhere he decided to interrupt and offered a solution. He advised them to use their skills and expertise to the best of their potential and asked them to come up with something concrete at the end of the day. He further added that this end-product would serve as a representative of their candidature and would make the claims, they put forth, more substantial and measurable to decide over the ‘superiority’ issue appropriately. The trio agreed.
They toiled hard and finished with fantastic results. All three had shown an excellent performance so it was once again difficult to choose any one of them over the others. Hence, the Snake, appreciating all of them, kept their end-products with him and asked them to repeat the same process the next day also to reach to a conclusion. Similar pattern continued for several days and slowly all three realized that ‘the title’ cannot be won by one of them but if any of them chooses to work less hard, he can easily be out of the race. So they had no other option but to compete. Gradually, under continuous pressure-to-perform, Rock, Paper & Scissors stopped working for their own happiness and started putting their 100% for not losing a competition, which they knew they were not gonna win anyway.
A fetish for superiority ended up becoming a race for survival and this tragic moment dragged me out of my sleep. I got out of the bed, but the thoughts didn’t stop and neither does life. So, I kept on contemplating over the dream, whilst getting ready for the office. Incidentally, this was the very day I had to fill my appraisal form telling my manager why I’m better than other members of the team. Irony? ..or a Lesson for Life? Well… I still wonder.