...so his son can be a poet.

Someone once asked a soldier, “why are you a soldier?’
“So my son can be a farmer, and his son can be a poet.” He replied.

In the modern day parlance, one can ask the question to a factory worker, and he would probably say that he is working hard so that his son can be a doctor or an engineer, and, if he enlightened like the soldier above, continue and say, “…so his son (or daughter) can be a liberal arts major.”

This was one of the major themes of an Indian movie called “Three Idiots” that I saw last month. It chronicles the life three students of a prestigious engineering college, modeled after the Indian Institute of Technology. The enlightened one amongst them keeps telling his buddies that they should follow their passions. “If photography is what you like, become a photographer, stop trying to become an engineer,” he tells one of them. Indeed, photographer is what he becomes.

This is an appropriate message for a nation where parents are obsessed about their sons becoming doctors or engineers.

It is also good message. At some point in a family’s history there should come a time when passion can trump practicality in choosing one’s profession. This will help the future generation in achieving happiness of the kind that does not depend on material things. The society at large will also benefit, because it is through passion that a culture can move forward.

However, remember that the soldier did not say that his son could be a poet, he would rather have his grandson become one. He sensed that without the prosperity brought about by someone in the family lineage, the farmer, such a dream would be impractical. He realized that without a financial cushion provided by his son, the poet would have a tough time.

Also, the little story stops at the third generation. It is unclear what the poet’s son would be doing. Could it be that the poet would say to his son, “Don’t do what I am doing. Go get some practical education and make a good living. This passion thing wears out after a while and the reality of hard living sets in.”

So will the cycle go into reverse?

May be.

May be not.

March 2010