We were sitting in the large guest room. It was afternoon and the day was hot but big windows of the room opened from both the sides to the garden and pleasant breeze entered the room from one side and left from the other, leaving the room with a pleasant smell and refreshing air. I had come to meet one of my best friends after a number of years and the only common thing among us was our habit of reading and collecting books. In a short span of time, his writings had won him the reputation and honor of a quality writer and now he was much busy in writing to different television channels and was also working on his upcoming book. He had also earned good money by this and had recently shifted to his new and beautifully designed house. He had designed a special room for himself which was surrounded by trees. The room was full of books and the serene condition of the room helped him a lot to concentrate on his writings.

After some time, his younger brother and son came. We greeted each other and they sat silently on a side. His son seemed to be shying a bit and did not talk at all during the whole of the time that he sat there. After some time, kids went out to bring the food. We took the lunch together and after lunch, tea was served. Then we were alone again and ready to start our favorite discussion of books and literature. But at once he put a question to me, ‘How did you find my son?’ The question came a bit strange to me and I praised his son for being polite, humble and well-mannered. Then he smiled a bit and started telling me the story which he had told many times before as well. In fact, this was also a factor that brought us close to each other; both of us belonged to very poor families and had reached to our present status after struggles of many years. He was saying, ‘When I was at the age of 7, I used to bring drinking water from a well which was almost 4 miles away. I and my siblings did not know the meaning of new clothes as we always got the old clothes from our neighbors and relatives. Once in a week, mother cooked rice with potatoes and we used to be very happy at it. Then with all the difficulties, I was admitted to a government school near our house. Right from the first day, I felt that I liked books and stories. Although my father was not in favor of my education, my success in each class persuaded my relatives to force my father to keep me in school. Time kept passing and I reached to the university but the difficulties did not end here as well. I had to work part time to submit the university dues. Anyhow, after I finished the university, I got my first job and things changed a little and then there was no looking back. Now, I have each and everything; a good house, a happy family, a respect in the society and a safe future. But when I look at my son, I don’t see even the half of my courage, dedication and spirit to fight with the harsh circumstances. I am a bit concerned about his future as he doesn’t seem to know the meaning of difficulties and this has turned him a bit relaxed.’

Then he uttered his famous and often repeated sentence, ‘we were in a well and thus we tried our best to come out of it but my son is already in a garden so why should he try and what should he try to achieve as he already has each and everything.’

With this, we started our often-repeated discussion of difficulties and qualities of humans to overcome these difficulties.

Just like me, it might have also caught your attention that in many families, children have been turned into machines that work with the battery of comfort, delicious foods, luxurious and imported clothes and other sources of enjoyment like playstations, i-pads, computer games and many more. It mostly happened in those families where elders suffered a lot and when they got enough money, they supplied their children with facilities which they were not able to enjoy in their own time. It was a psychological attempt to make available the happiness to their children of which they were deprived of in their time. But when this thing is done without proper understanding, its results can be very drastic. Now, days and nights of such children circle around the ways of enjoying and their desires have become so sharp that they don’t see anything except their wishes and enjoyment.

In such circumstances, it is impossible to expect that they would ever realize the difficulties of life, would be able to face them in their practical lives and polish those qualities which are hidden in us and help us to be a better and responsible citizen.

There are some serious factors associated with this phenomenon. One who doesn’t face the difficulties of life never comes to understand the sufferings of others and thus emerges as a stone-hearted person. Such a person can never come to realize the difficulties of the members of family and in broader sense, can never perceive the actual conditions of others. As we make him habitual of following his desires of different things, so throughout his life, the grip of his desires continues tightening around him and a day comes when he can be called a pack of desires and nothing; always looking for things and opportunities to merry his wants and needs. When such a person enters a practical life, he usually lacks the abilities to face the realities and thus looks for shortcuts to reach to success.

When we talk of solutions, there comes the point if we should deprive our children of the facilities and develop a set of artificial difficulties in an effort to make them stronger. This has been tried by some as well, some deliberately and some without knowing what they were doing. A rich man was very miser and he never let his sons to enjoy the money that they had. Anyhow, the sons hated their father and it had not made any good impact on them. They were waiting for their father to die so that they should enjoy his wealth. On the other hand, some people deliberately make their children have a miserable life and this has also not shown any worth-praising result.

It is said that the motivation that is internal has long-lasting and impressive result. If we want that our young generation should learn about the difficulties of life, their minds need to be conquered. With the help of our own stories, or biographies of others, or well-chosen books, we can develop a sense to feel the realities of life. It is also necessary that our children should have all the facilities of life but these should be provided to them tactfully so not to make them addicted to these.

Anyhow, difficulties act like an oven where a person’s personality is refined and his hidden abilities are polished and brightened.