Abscond

by Abraham Verghese

To be Indian was to be weighed down by the expectations of students and even a few teachers who thought he should know about magic carpets and harems, or cannibalism and shrunken heads, even if none of these things were Indian.

“You see, Ravi, this world isn’t just all the things we can see and touch. It’s also all the things we can’t see, the things we choose to believe.”

Yes, he could plan, he must plan, but he had to take into account that fate—or God, or the universe—had its own plans; it was indifferent to his plan. For that reason, and for the first time in his life, he saw that a secret self was so unnecessary. Whatever he chose to do, he’d do it to the best of his ability. It was silly to worry about pleasing or displeasing others with his choices; life was hard enough without such meaningless concerns.

There are your plans and then there is God’s plan. And, in the essence of it all, God’s plan simply out-weighs your insignificant speck of a plan. So, the best, I can do or we all can do is do whatever we can do to the best of our ability to do. Opinions, especially opinions and perspectives from strangers is simply noise. Hear your own self, do the best for your own self, wholeheartedly.