DailyPost 1899
ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY!
As proverbial as it may sound, to be quoted at lectures and speeches and to prove that everything worthwhile takes time to be created, even in private conversations, it is very hard to say how much of it has been ingrained by us. The unmaking of this statement has been the unmaking of individuals, communities, enterprises, governance mechanisms and nations. It speaks of the vision and the capability to make it happen. It also gives us an understanding that if something does not happen within my lifetime for which one has given his life, so it be. But conversely, people want to transform things in their tenure, with not even a shade of expertise or character which the Romans had.
Rome was not made in a day and certainly not only by emperors. Battling for credit is what we are left with. The Roman emperors have left for posterity to decide their greatness and worth and what they have left behind for endless generations to relish and be proud of. Today, in a hapless country the battle against hunger is fought with doles and also advertisements. Poverty cannot be abolished in a day, but what has been the direction, whosoever might be the party in power, of bringing it down, eradicating or perpetuating it. Have we seen a poverty free nation building up? All of us would fondly believe that all data provided in this regard for the last fifty years has been positive, but the rural countryside has a different story to tell.
Do we have a mindset to build an empire? In today’s language, parlance, reality and practice, it is nation building. Have we been brought up in that sort of an ecosystem or fending for oneself with difficulty or ease has been our only differentiator? Certainly, there was a time when we were better than Singapore or at best similar, today even comparing the two seems to be blasphemy. One leader establishes and then it is taken further and is made robust making it a shining example of progress and lead the world to perpetuity. This also means that leader after leader have the same understanding of things and are ready to take the baton and carry it forward. Thought processes can be different but progressive work happening in different areas have to be taken to its fulfillment and beyond.
One of the main tasks of present-day leaders and governments is to undo what the earlier one has done, each wanting to end its eternal glory. Barely any have been able to reach anywhere near that. Last few decades have not seen a movement of the nature of empire type development in any field directed by the government. Certainly some academic / research institutions and also few business enterprises of the new and old age have shown striking similarities, in building their empires as Romans did, out of nowhere. Even some founders leave it to professional CEOs to take the company to further glory. And they have performed. Creating and operating to stupendous success can at times be two different things. If we are trying to build Rome in a day, or even make a show of it, we can be only be duping ourselves.
THE MINDSET OF LONG DRAWN EFFORT TO CREATE ANYTHING WORTHWHILE, CANNOT BE LOST IN THIS WORLD OF INSTANT GRATIFICATION.
Sanjay Sahay