Should we "invest" in people like stock markets ?

Hello little darling,

How's my little princess doing tonight? Daddy's life is currently at a standstill. He doesn't know where to go, what to do. But earlier, it was kind of very tumultuous and confusing. Now, it is more peaceful. Nothing has changed on the outside but inside its quiet and calm. I just watch books and movies all day. Leaves me with a lot of time to spare. I had this one thought creeping up my mind.

Should we spend our time and energy on people like stock markets?

There are quite a few similarities and also dissimilarities between people and stocks. Let's put the similarities first.

1. People just like stocks are quite unreliable. Human mood and mind are subject to some real quick changes not unlike the stock market.
2. Everybody wants to get associated with the uprising hotshot people or stocks. Nobody cares when it is falling or failing. 
3. You have limited time/energy or money, so we should choose wisely. Great investments can yield great returns and vice versa.
4. You have different types of friends, just like different kinds of stocks in different sectors. You have work friends, college friends, school friends, neighbour friends. 

Now, for the dissimilarities. 

1.  Investing in stocks in optional. But almost everyone needs friends to live.
2.  Emotional losses are more significant than monetary ones.

You spend your time and energy on a person, you enjoy the companionship. You expect warmth and support in return. Similarly, you invest in stocks and expect a return. In financial markets, there's a very common saying. 

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

That is, invest in many stocks to minimize the risk of loss. In case of people, however, the advice is completely opposite.

Have a few close friends. That's all we need. 

But, what if it is better to invest a little time and energy in quite a lot of friends, just like the stock markets. Investing in one person has huge rewards, but if the person leaves, it has a disastrous aftermath. But continued investment in one person minimizes the chance of risk to some extent. More on this later.

Bye for now, sweetheart.

Yours always,
Dad

 

The Feeling of Being Forgotten,Replaced,Ignored OR Athazagoraphobia

Hello princess,

The festival of Durga Pujo is over. It's time for people to get back to whatever they were doing. The intoxicating spell of revelry has passed. But, in the midst of all the celebration, I felt quite small and unimportant. It was to do with meeting up old friends, who really were not that enthusiastic about it. I think everybody wants to feel important to at least a few people. There's a popular quote nowadays and I think it's very true.

In the end, we all want someone who would choose us over everybody else every single time. 

I guess people drift away after a certain point of time. Physical separation is quite a significant factor. Even though we have all forms of communication to keep us updated round the clock about other people, it is sheer irony, that we drift apart all the more. Mohiner Ghoraguli's iconic song (Prithibi Ta Naki Choto Hote Hote) about drifting apart is very apt here. We meet certain people, they add value to our lives, but after a point, we leave them or they leave us. We meet new people again. This cycle goes on. We would be very fortunate to have a group of people with us all along.

Sometimes, we wonder why certain people have moved away. Many times, it may happen that we have pushed them away and we are not yet conscious of that fact. In such times, we must introspect on what we have done, and introspect really hard. If we find something, we should really try to apologize and try to correct our mistakes. But, even if we try to do so, a broken string will always have a knot. I think I have pushed people away due to my own stupidity. I should not complain about the world, but I sure can complain about myself.

If you ever find yourself in such a situation, try to correct yourself first before blaming others for moving away. If you find something wrong you have done in the past, try to make up for it. A person who wants to stay in your life will always welcome you back again. If not, then it is sad, but in the long run, you are better off without that person. Besides, daddy will always love you.

Always. :')

Yours lovingly,
Dad

The Importance of Reaching Out

Hello darling,

Today is Dashami. The victory of good over evil. The victory of light over darkness. I had quite an interesting thought today. Somewhat related to the previous line. It's about how we forget the light in people and only see their dark and negative sides.

I went out today with my friends from college. We had drifted apart for quite some time, due to physical distance and also our busy lives. I noticed that the further we drifted apart, the more cynical and apprehensive we got of each other. We remembered the negative parts about the people more than the positive parts. But after we went out today, we had a great time and we forgot about all that we didn't like the other person. I think reaching out to people can clear a lot of difficulties. In the professional side, it can avoid a lot of misunderstanding. On the personal front, it can really rejuvenate a relationship. In a way, it was the victory of clear thought which lighted our way out of the narrow dark tunnel vision we had.

I think anytime, you find yourself not thinking right about a person or being angry or disappointed about the person and you don't know what's wrong, we should always spend some time with that person. We can do this until a point of time though. If the other person doesn't cooperate with us in our effort to clear up the situation we should back off after a certain point of time. Knowing when is the trick. Sometimes, we let our ego take centre stage and allow it to act on our behalf. We refuse to talk to that person. I also think knowing the difference between ego and self-respect is very important. 

Sorry if this letter raises more questions than answers, but I just wanted to discuss this with you.

Yours lovingly,
Dad