SELF RELIANCE

One of the greatest virtues that one should try to develop is the habit of self –reliance; by being self-reliance a man has already won a sort of glorious independence. For he depends on his own power and does not wait to be helped by others; his attitude to life is the heroic attitude, he is host to himself.
Life to him is a great adventure, full of interest and excitement, he never feels dull and dispirited, he accepts the challenge of life and develops new virtues, new qualities, he is full of devices, ever ready to take the initiative, always confident of finding a way out of difficulties.

In our country, the lesson of self-reliance is particularly needed; we are by nature fatalistic in our attitude; we tend to depend too much on fate, or chance, fate is the scapegoat on whom we place the heavy responsibility of our failures, which we always call misfortunes, this habit of mind destroys the spirit of action, but if we have courage, daring and intiative, we may become the masters of our destiny.

There are many who make their fortune by their own effort and call it fate, they think it is an act of piety, of humility towards God; but even this attitude is not proper, if it is God who has given us strength of body and power of mind, He surely expects us to help ourselves with these and not to be always whining for divine help; it is our duty to develop the gifts that God has given us.
Self-reliance is the parent of many virtues, the self-reliance man is patient and persevering, he does not cringe and complain, he does not shirk his responsibilities, he is satisfied with what he can achieve by himself and is always striving after great success.

He does not envy others nor does he think of begging favours from others; he faces his misfortunes with quite courage, the self-reliance man feels neither fear nor shame to labour with his hands, he is ready to learn new lessons and gather valuable experience, his example is an inspiration to others, failures can not shake his well –grounded self-confidence; it only spurs him on to renewed enterprise.
Confidence in himself wins him the confidence of others, in the face of failure a self –reliant man does not lose self- esteem and this gains him the esteem of the world.

The history of human achievement is indeed a record of man’s reliance upon himself; great Heros, Scientists, Merchants were all self-made men; Babar founded an empire relying upon his own strong army, Benjamin Franklin was born of poor parents who could not give him little education, and yet, by relying on his own God-given powers, he made his name memorable in science and in statesman, Michael Faraday began as a book-binder, but rose to be one of the greatest scientist of the world.
Self –reliance does not mean that one be proud and conceited about himself, it should always go hand in hand with a proper feeling of modesty; another defect to be guarded against is selfishness, a man should act not for himself, but be ready to lend a helping hand to others.

Finally the self-reliant man should not disdain to accept help from others, if any one comes forward to help him, he should accept it gratefully; it only means that he should not remain waiting for other to come and help him.

There is no dependence that can be sure; but dependence upon one’s self, generally the world estimate us as we estimate ourselves; if we think poorly of our own abilities, if we look to others for guidance at every step, we cannot expect others to rate us high and put confidence in us.