Detractors

No matter how hard you might work, and how high you may climb, you will always find people nipping at your feet, trying to pull you down once you've reached an enviable height. Vultures flock to the wounded and dying, but humans prey on the powerful and thriving, hungrily trying to drain each other of our glory. Whether you're merely a spectator, privy to the scheming and plotting produced by a bitter bunch, or an honest victim of planted rumours and deliberated damage designed against you, we have all encountered with stark realities, the demonic detractors.

Of these detractors there are many strains and varieties. There are those who breed contempt for you openly, making their feelings and intentions towards you all too clear. They will wait for any opportunity to jump at your vulnerability, and they will gloat at your failures as if it meant that their own success were only moments away. Then there are the ones who straddle the fence with you, staying close enough to have access to your life, while simultaneously chipping at your foundation from the outside, hoping to make you crumble.

Finally, you'll find the traitors, nestled closely to you, completely unsuspecting, supposedly supportive of you silently and sinisterly maligning ans aligning every piece of ammunition they have against you, hoping for that one fateful day when the bomb will drop. Even if you don't think you have detractors and energy suckers, imagine what it would be like it to have an army of people working against you. Why would anyone feel happy for one man's failure? When you are someone important and have power, your worth is measured by how much someone else can gain from you.

If you're a public figure, not only is your life put up for scrutiny, but your efforts, earnings, sucesses and failures are monitored obsessively by those waiting for you to stumble. It is in our nature to want what we can't have, but at some point you have to ask yourself, at what cost? As we evolved and developed a competitive spirit, we forgot to wire in some humanity. Green with envy and jealousy a jaundiced yellow; we don't feel like we're getting anywhere until someone else is floundering. I know why detractors exist. I just don't agree with their agenda.

We are a country that roots for and supports unequivocally the underdog. In the underdog, we see ourselves; struggling to be understood, eager to be appreciated. We've convinced ourselves that we've generally had it harder than most, and so bask of glory can only be warmer. We are God-fearing, and superstitious. We have proven that there's not a whole lot we won't do for success, and we have more drive and horse power than most nations put together. When people complain about the filth in India, the corruption and the inefficiency, they forget that the country was built and continues to develop on the strength amd resilience of the self made man.

The proud examples people from small towns can attest to, the successful cricketer who was raised by the village and now travels the world, the chess champion who had to struggle to find his support structure, the young enterpreneur who dreamt big out of a tiny garage, the entertainer who stoically played to a shifty, meek audience before making it big, they have the same perseverance we possess, and if they can make something of themselves, so can we.

So to all the detractors and haters out there, focus your thoughts and energies not on others but on yourself. Don't worry about pulling someone else down to make it to the top. Climb steadily and confidently and try to remain an honest person. Don't cheat by looking at someone else's answer, try coming up with your own solution. There's plenty of room at the top, but you'll enjoy it if you know you got there the right way.