So this past week a friend was in town and we were just chilling and hanging out at our usual college adda and started talking about random stuff. It was during all this non sense talk that he mentioned or rather asked me something that blew my mind. Something that I secretly thought about but never spoke because I was afraid that I might be wrong, and that I think was my mistake. So I'm going to share what he asked me sitting on a railway platform having the most silliest and stupid talks that we have....
Him : "Okay tell me, Does a promise really exists??"
Me: " Meaning???"
Him : Well you know a promise, a promise to someone..does it really exists??, if yes then whats the duration and validity??
Me: (trying to mock him) its not a recharge voucher that'll have a duration , you know "best before.." its not a coupon that has validity...a promise is a promise.
Although my reply made his questions stop but the both of us weren't very pleased and I was soon going to find out why,
what he went on to tell me about certain common friends was.....(Hint : Friends with Benefits ) well that'll take another post to reveal but again lets focus on the current one ;)
So later that same evening I receive a text from him, He is surely addicted to texting and sends out the longest of texts that any of my friends send me and the content of which are the reason of writing this post.
So here is the exact contents of the text that he sent me:
"Does a promise really exist?? if yes then whats the duration and validity??The text goes longer but these are the crucial points that he raised. And he got me thinking.
do all the promises have same impact, or it varies across different promises?
Is promise based on the person to whom we are promising as to how important that person is so that we maintain our promise??
If we break the promise will the person on whom we promise die?? "
I'll answer those with what are my thoughts about them..
Q : Does a promise really exist?? If yes then whats the duration and validity??
Well it certainly does exists and over time the meaning and usage has changed.
A promise isn't one which has to be explicitly told, according to me a promise is much more than that.
As kids we were very careful about our promises, never gave one easily but if we did made sure be backed it up 100%. And here is where i feel things changed, as we grew we lost out on all these wonderful virtues..and as we continue growing up we are still losing them.
A promise in it's most simple meaning has the duration till time you actually do an act as promised or fulfill something as promised and that holds good for its validity as well, meaning if i said to a friend that whenever he/she needs me i'll try my best to be there, that means it valid throughout and not like a one-use-validity coupon.
Q: Do all promises have the same impact, or it varies across different promises??I'm afraid but the answer to the question is a sad YES, at least in these times it is. Promises have different impact. I think certain promises have a huge impact in our life and certain others don't.
Q : Is promise based on the person to whom we are promising as to how important that person is so that we maintain our promise?
As much as I want to think otherwise but the fact is that it is the case. A promise suddenly becomes more important if the person to whom it was made is important. C'mon we all do it, promise made to friends to meet on birthday is less important than promise made to girlfriend to spend the day with her. In our head we try to reason we try to fool ourselves saying "I tried my level best...but had to choose.."
So YES the person to whom a promise is made makes the promise that much more important.
Q: If we break the promise will the person on whom we promise die?
This answer comes from a lot of experience..NO, no that person on whom you've promised won't die but surely I'll tell you two things will happen: a) If the promise stand broken, then both you and the person to whom you promised will start losing respect for the one you had promise on. b) the value of your own words will be lost.
As I write this post more of such profound thought comes to me..the kind of thoughts that only someone thinking so deeply about them can or maybe Calivn :P
Here's a honest request...Never make a promise that you don't intend on keeping, but once you do never ever break them. You'll have that persons respect as well mine.
And in these troubled times there are these virtues that we should treasure.
Honesty,
Integrity,
Valor,
No these are not things that King Arthur would appreciate but if times have truly changed then I wish I was sent to that era were these mattered more than money, religion et cetera.
"And Such should be life."
