Crossroads – Romita Handa

We, humans, are a captious and nitpicky race, constantly looking for a negative, even in the best of situations. While I was growing up, the word ‘crisis’ was often believed to be a situation or a circumstance that would try men’s souls. This has been the traditional school of thought where a crisis meant the end of a person, physically and socially, but more importantly affecting him psychologically in the most fearful ways.

However, when I faced a crisis-like situation, I felt what John F. Kennedy described this way, “When written in Chinese, ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters, one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” It is situations like these which tap into the darkest, hidden sides, unknown to man himself, to bring out the best in him. Believed to be a turning point, it is often the fear inside of man which stops him from becoming someone he never imagined he would become one day. This fear, the fear of what people shall say, of losing the might, the fear of tables turning, it is just like a dark shadow.

Constantly following us, constantly there but dark until we pay heed to it or throw light upon it. It has no existence of its own. A human encounters a crisis every day in life, the extent of which varies.  While we get tested every day in different situations, it is the crisis where people panic, become neurotic and create chaos. This extremity has often scared people, many a time stopping it from becoming a turning point or a lesson for them.

Man has created a lot of sins, the count of which he has lost. These situations are a necessary reminder for him to check the path he paved. The crisis which has engulfed the globe now, the topic of the time, Coronavirus, has created panic amongst the humans––the death rates, the low rate of recovery, the high chances of spreading have escalated fear along with it. Yet, we must not forget that we are bound to be social animals, and it is our duty to help and respect the policies being implemented.

Man will continue to encounter more or less extreme crises, yet it is up to him that he handles it with an intrepid attitude, keeping his will stronger and head higher than the problems in his path because he has the power to change the end of his story.

– Romita Handa, Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana

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