The Human Being Caught in the Middle of Life

The Human Being Caught in the Middle of Life

This world is truly a strange place.

On one side, we see people who seem to possess almost everything. On the other, we see people struggling every day simply to meet their basic needs. Between these two extremes lives a large section of humanity.

They have food, but not always the freedom to eat whatever they wish. They have a roof over their heads, but not necessarily the financial freedom to shape their lives as they desire. Life continues, but they often have very little time to stop and actually enjoy it.

This is the reality of life for many ordinary people.

Those at the top of society often think about what more they can achieve or acquire. Those at the bottom think about how they will obtain tomorrow's food. But those caught in the middle face a different kind of struggle.

They live with the desire to move upward and, at the same time, with the fear of slipping downward.

There is a strange anxiety in their lives.

“Is what I have now enough?”

they ask themselves.

At the same time,

“What if I lose what I have and fall further down?”

is another fear that constantly follows them.

So, instead of simply living, they spend much of their lives trying to protect the life they have built.

The Pain of Sugarless Payasam and the Pain of Having Nothing to Accompany Rice

Let us take a simple example.

Imagine a family having a feast.

There is payasam on the table, but it does not contain enough sugar.

The person may think,

“Even the payasam doesn't have enough sugar!”

and feel disappointed.

At the same time, in another home, there may not even be payasam. There may only be plain rice, with nothing available to accompany it.

There, the concern may simply be,

“What are we going to eat today?”

Both people's concerns are real.

We cannot say that the first person's disappointment is insignificant. Nor is it fair to tell that person, “What problem do you have?” simply because someone else is suffering more.

Because human suffering is measured through personal experience.

For one person, losing a thousand pounds may be a major tragedy. For another, losing fifty pounds may be enough to disrupt the entire month.

The amount of money may be different, but the emotional pain is real in both cases.

That is one of the subtle truths of human life.

The Invisible Fear of the Person in the Middle

One of the greatest struggles in society, I believe, is what we might call “the fear of the person in the middle.”

He is not poor.

But neither is he wealthy.

He does not go hungry.

But neither can he live without worrying about money.

He has a home.

But there are mortgages, rent, bills, council tax, insurance, electricity, gas and countless other expenses waiting for him every month.

His children are studying.

He wants to provide them with a good education.

He wants them to have a secure future.

He needs to save for them.

At the same time, he may have elderly parents to care for.

He also needs to save for his own future.

And somewhere inside all these responsibilities, there is always another question:

What if I lose my job one day?

What if my income falls?

What if I become seriously ill?

What if I can no longer meet the mortgage payments?

To the outside world, everything may appear perfectly fine.

But who knows what happens inside his mind when he lies awake at night?

This is the person caught in the middle of life.

Measuring Our Life Against Someone Else's

This problem has become even more complicated because of social media.

In the past, we compared ourselves mainly with our neighbours.

Today, we compare ourselves with the entire world.

Someone buys a new house.

Someone else buys a new car.

Another person travels abroad.

Someone proudly shares their child's university achievement.

Another person displays their comfortable retirement lifestyle.

We watch all of this.

But we see only the outside of their lives.

We do not see what exists behind the walls of that house.

How much debt is attached to it?

How much of that car is being paid through monthly instalments?

How many years did it take to save for that holiday?

What sorrow may be hidden behind that smiling photograph?

We do not know.

Yet we look at other people's lives and conclude that our own lives are somehow inadequate.

This is where a peaceful life slowly becomes a restless one.

The Endless Journey of “Just a Little More”

Human beings naturally have needs.

There is nothing wrong with wanting a good home.

There is nothing wrong with wanting a reliable car.

There is nothing wrong with wanting our children to receive a good education.

There is nothing wrong with wanting financial security in old age.

These are natural desires.

But at some point, need becomes desire, desire becomes comparison, and comparison can become greed.

We have a house.

Then we see someone else's larger house.

We have a car.

Then we see someone else's newer car.

Our children are doing well.

Then we see another person's child achieving something greater.

Suddenly, everything we already have begins to look small.

What we possess has not become less valuable; our comparison has simply become greater.

This is one of the major sources of stress in modern life.

The Fear of Falling

Wanting to move upward is a good thing.

But living in constant fear of falling after reaching a certain level is painful.

Some people are highly successful in their careers.

Yet they constantly fear losing their jobs.

Some are financially comfortable.

Yet they worry whether that comfort will last.

Some enjoy a happy family life.

Yet they fear whether the relationship will remain the same tomorrow.

Some are healthy and active.

Yet they worry about what may happen as they grow older.

In other words,

the fear of tomorrow is stealing the life we are supposed to experience today.

This may be one of the saddest truths of human existence.

Tomorrow may never come.

Yet the fear of tomorrow can consume us today.

The Ordinary Human Life — A Tightrope

The life of an ordinary person can be compared to walking on a tightrope.

On one side are family responsibilities.

On the other are financial obligations.

On one side is the future of the children.

On the other is the need to secure one's own old age.

On one side are society's expectations.

On the other are one's own dreams and desires.

On one side are the achievements of others.

On the other is the reality of one's own life.

And between all these, the ordinary person walks.

Sometimes the feet stumble.

Sometimes the mind becomes tired.

Sometimes we stop and ask ourselves,

“Why am I running so hard?”

But the next morning, we get up and start running again.

Because behind us is a family.

There are people who depend on us.

There are lives that trust us.

But What Is True Wealth?

At some point in life, we need to stop and ask ourselves:

How much is enough?

The world will never give us a clear answer.

Because the world will always whisper,

“Just a little more...”

But one day, life itself will ask us,

“Did you actually enjoy what you had?”

By then, we may have money.

We may have property.

We may have savings in the bank.

But what if we had no time to enjoy life?

What if we had no time to talk to our family?

What if we had forgotten how to laugh with our friends?

What if we had never taken the time to sit quietly and speak to our own hearts?

Then what is the true value of all that wealth?

At the end of life, it is not the things we accumulated that travel with us, but the moments we truly experienced.

Instead of Counting What We Do Not Have, Let Us Recognise What We Have

This does not mean that we should give up our ambitions.

It does not mean that we should stop trying.

It does not mean that we should abandon our dreams.

Rather, it means that we should learn to pursue progress without sacrificing inner peace.

We can move forward.

But we do not need to push someone else down in order to rise.

We can build wealth.

But we should not lose our relationships in the process.

We can create a better life.

But we must not forget to live that life.

Before thinking about everything we still do not have, let us pause for a moment and appreciate what we already have.

Do we have a family?

Be grateful.

Do we have friends?

Be grateful.

Is our body still functioning?

Be grateful.

Can we wake up in the morning and see the sunlight?

Be grateful.

Can we speak kindly to another human being?

That too is a form of wealth.

Life Is Not a Competition

There is one great truth that we often forget:

Life is not a competition.

Each person has their own path.

One person runs quickly.

Another walks slowly.

Someone else stops to rest.

Another falls and gets up again.

Each journey belongs to the person walking it.

We do not need to measure our height by looking at how high someone else has climbed.

If we are slightly better today than we were yesterday, that is progress.

If we are a little more peaceful today than yesterday, that is progress.

If we have shown a little more love to someone today, that is progress.

If our mind is a little clearer today than it was yesterday, that too is progress.

That is enough.

In the End, We Are All Travellers on the Same Journey

The person at the top of society will one day have to come down.

The person at the bottom will also one day leave this world.

The person in the middle is travelling towards the same destination.

There may not be great differences between us when we are born.

Differences emerge during the journey of life.

But death eventually erases all those differences.

Therefore, the true measure of a successful life is not simply,

“How high did I rise?”

It is also,

“How many people did I help rise along with me?”

We should not count only how much food we received.

We should also remember how many times we shared food with someone who was hungry.

We should not count only how much love we received.

We should also remember how much love we gave to others.

We should not think only about the life we were given.

We should also ask how much light our life brought into the lives of others.

Accepting the Reality of Life

Yes.

The world is not equal.

Some are at the top.

Many are at the bottom.

And many are somewhere in between.

Some struggle to rise.

Some struggle simply not to fall.

And some, after falling, struggle to stand up again.

This is life.

But even amidst all these inequalities, there is one great freedom available to every human being.

It is the freedom to choose the state of mind with which we live our life.

We cannot change everything.

But we can change the way we look at everything.

We may not be able to double our income immediately.

But we can double our gratitude.

We may not be able to make our house bigger.

But we can make the love within that house greater.

We may not be able to add more years to our life.

But we can add more life to the years we have.

That is wisdom.

So, dear friends,

Let us not condemn the person who feels disappointed because there is not enough sugar in the payasam.

Let us not forget the suffering of the person who has nothing to accompany his rice.

And let us not ignore the silent anxiety of the person caught somewhere between the two.

Each person is carrying the weight of his or her own life.

The person we see smiling may be fighting a battle within.

Therefore,

Let us not measure our lives against the lives of others.
Let us understand the life we have been given and learn to live it fully.

Let us move forward.

But not with anxiety.

Let us earn.

But not at the cost of losing our lives.

Let us rise.

But without losing our humanity.

Let us live.

Let us live our life before life itself comes to an end.

Because ultimately, what matters is not how much we had,

but

how fully we lived with what we had.

“You Can Do It”

With love,
Sakthi Sakthithasan