Many years ago, there was an interesting headline, it screamed, “From Newspaper Boy to President,” It was about the Late President Abdul Kalam who sold newspapers in his boyhood and rose to become President of India.

I spent a wonderful evening two nights ago, with a large group of friends and as the evening progressed, we decided to speak about our coming into the city, the struggles we faced and how we overcame them.

What a gloriously wonderful evening it was as many of us, who knew each other, suddenly realized we had never known what challenges the others had faced to rise in life.

But something lurked in my mind as we recounted our stories; in rising up, have we risen out?

Are we still newspaper vendors, or chai wallahs? Have you risen from your humble beginnings or there’s money in your pocket but no change in your behavior?

As I remember our former president, I have no doubts he had risen. His humility and his accessibility were all there because of what he’d been through, but it allowed him to understand that he had to give back to those who were still trying to get out of their mud huts, and he did.

But what about you and me?

Most cities are full of rags to riches stories. Most come to earn their fortune, and many do. But have they left their past behind or does it cling to them in the way they act?

There are many who own posh cars but act as if they still ride on bullock carts. Watch them on the road.

Many who live in fancy apartments but dirty the outsides as if they are still in the slums they left behind.

Many of us, who can now afford to spend an evening in a five star restaurant behave as if we are still in a tavern or country liquor bar. I have shuddered as I watch some of them shouting at a waiter, conversing loudly, and creating a huge ruckus. What they are actually trying to say is, “Look at me, I am no more a newspaper boy! I don’t live in a mud hut anymore!”

I wonder what the Ambani’s were saying at their wedding?

But the more we show off, the more we reveal we haven’t climbed out.

When you make money, or get educated, move not just your body to better surroundings but your mind also.

Your quietness will reveal your greatness. Your stillness, your personality.

Our change has to come from within. Money can’t do it.  Position won’t help, but a realization will.

From newspaper boy to the President of India, and as we watched the late Abdul Kalam as President, what a great man he was, and what a message for all of us.

Let us likewise rise up and rise out…!

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