We live in a culture where we are appreciated for frantically rushing against the deadline. After the calamity is averted, we congratulate ourselves on handling the crisis.
Consider this story of a wild boar.
In a peaceful time, when no predators were nearby, a wild boar sharpened his tusks.
A passing fox laughed at the wild boar. “Why are you wasting your energy by sharpening your tusks when there is no danger now?”
The wild boar smiled. “When the fight begins, I will not have time to sharpen my blades.”
The fox in the story is us - the short-sighted part of our mind that does not understand why we have to prepare for any change when there are no visible signs of trouble.
The wild boar is the disciplined part of us that we have to develop so that the ‘fox’ does not convince us that our preparation for today is not necessary.
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The story of the wild boar is brought out in this Sanskrit Subhashita:
चिन्तनीया हि विपदां आदावेव प्रतिक्रिया ।
न कूपखननं युक्तं प्रदीप्ते वह्निना गृहे ॥
Cintanīyā hi vipadām ādāveva pratikriyā |
Na kūpa-khananaṃ yuktaṃ pradīpte vahninā gṛhe ||
This translates to: ‘The remedy for calamities must be planned and prepared well in advance. It is completely futile to start digging a well after the house has already caught fire.’
Archilochus, a Greek poet, observed: ‘We never rise to the occasion in the heat of battle, we just sink to the level of our training.’
So preparation cannot wait for the crisis. The work that we do when there is no danger nearby, will carry us through anything that comes in the future.
Our true strength lies in readying ourselves before the battle calls. Because when the battle arrives, all we can do is try to stand our ground based on what we have learnt.
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