Life lessons at reunion with schoolmates

It’s been around three decades since I left School. Recently, after having gone through the grinds of education in engineering and then work life in India, Hong Kong and now Canada, I had the opportunity to connect with some of my classmates. We used to be a bunch of fun loving students yet eager to succeed in life. During the reunion we exchanged notes on how each one of us had done in life. A significant observation was that those who were clear and focused worked towards their objectives and got what they wanted. Some of us seemed to drift initially and were found misfits in the career but eventually life takes its own course. Life is a great equalizer.

One among us was the naughtiest and always full of pranks and had a casual approach to studies and now it turned out that he was a senior coast guard official in the US. The amount of studies he had to do later eventually made up for his casualness in early stages of life. After several rounds of exchanging views with my classmates, observing the twists and turns in life, the following realities stood out.

1. Among the key attributes of successful people, the most important skill is ‘people skill’ or human interaction. No matter what profession one is in or how well one did in studies the most important skill is to deal or relate with people. Having dealt with several cultures and societies I find that culture is like a wrapper. Inside all human beings are the same, and the desire to be appreciated and respected is paramount. So friends no matter where you live please be careful when dealing with people – respect their opinions and value systems. Easily said but worth all the effort in weighed gold!

2. Our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but the surprising part is that we ultimately are responsible for who we become. No matter what situation we were in or what consequences we faced ultimately those being honest to themselves were paid the biggest dividends and got much further in life.

3. Which brings me to the next point we all agreed upon: There is no right way of do a wrong thing. Many of us in our journey of life learned that some things (wrong things) do give pleasure in the short run but real happiness comes by doing the right things. A small mistake done in an instant can give you heartaches for life.

4. Money is important and necessary but don’t use it as a yardstick to measure happiness. It’s not that those with a bank balance in six zeros and above are happy. In fact those who can differentiate between their needs and wants are happy. Better still one should learn the fine art of managing the needs and wants, if this secret is shared with all members of family then life becomes blissful.

5. Finally we all agreed that there was no substitute for hard work and only insurance in adversity was the ability to bounce back, keep investing in your self by education or un-learning outdated skills and learning new skills.

Looking back and reflecting on our collective learning has been very insightful. Of course some of your experiences may be in sync with those above. Would be delighted to learn and hear of other noteworthy lessons of life since we all remain lifelong students in the university of life.