Life In Context

Helen Keller was a writer, lecturer and a political activist. This piece of information doesn’t inspire me. But when I read it in the context of the additional information of her being deaf and blind, it makes me sit tight and concentrate. Context is a simple word but it’s relevance is insurmountable. Context converts a story into history.

Context alters the characteristics of every outcome. Context has the ability to make us more understanding and empathetic. Context adds value to a situation. In context, lies the real story of life. If only, life would have been a collection of few memorable moments, context wouldn’t have mattered. But life is also what happens between two memorable moments.

The story of Arunima Sinha, first female amputee to climb Mount Everest is glorious with its context. She was thrown out of a moving train because she bravely fought the thieves. Consequently, her leg had to be amputated. To overcome the pity in the eyes of people, she attained the extraordinary feat. Of course, climbing Mount Everest is a challenge for any human being and it is probably the ultimate test of your determination and perseverance along with physical strength, but the context as in the above situation adds value to the success and assures of glory to every individual who dreams.

The story of Phoebe Snetsinger, an American birder, first in the world, to see more than 8000 birds is more inspirational if we look at it in the context of her life. She was a mother of 4 children. Her first birding tour was in her thirties. She was diagnosed with terminal melanoma at the age of 50. This did not deter her. In fact, the diagnosis compelled her to concentrate on her own life and her own wishes. Her happiness paid off and she lived for 18 years after diagnosis. She died in an accident while birding. So, an American woman seeing a record number of birds can be a good story but a housewife, a mother of four, a cancer patient who found her passion quiet late in life, but who also alongside found courage to pursue that passion makes the story extraordinary.

Participation in Olympics is itself a dream for any sportsperson. Winning there must be beyond the dream world. But when athletes from USA and New Zealand help each other to reach the finish line after a collision, their story attains greater height than the story of the winner.The grace in the face of defeat made their story, history.

In today’s competitive world, we concern ourselves only with the winners. We are not interested in the reasons for failure. But we need to understand that though the end point and the finish lines are important, the point where you started is, if not more, equally relevant. Success of a millionaire and a poor can be equally important but we cannot turn a blind eye to the context of poverty and the resultant additional obstacles that had to be overcome. Context is of utmost importance here.

Oscar Schindler was just a German industrialist who saved lives of 1200 Jews working in his factories. The extraordinary characteristic of this feat achieved is not highlighted as long as we do not look at it in the context of the horrors of the Holocaust and the courage it demanded of the Oscar Schindler.

The superficial division of people based on the criteria of winners and losers will make Hillary Clinton look like a loser in the 2016 Presidential elections. The context of her being the first female presidential candidate nominated by a major party in the history of the USA highlights the different shades of her defeat.

When I read about the slow verbal development of the great Einstein, the “too stupid to learn anything” comment of the teacher of the Thomas Edison and his unsuccessful 1000 attempts at inventing the light bulb, the story of Stephen Hawking overcoming depression after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, I find the context more appealing than the ground breaking work they did.

The context of all these people and the situations, gives me a renewed sight to look at my present. Today’s difficulties and obstacles are the context of my glorious tomorrow. A story without context doesn’t amount to much. But with context, if I win, it will be a story in itself and even if I lose, it will be a story worth cherishing and worth telling. It strengthens me. The understanding of the context inspires me to be less judgemental, to face adversity bravely, and to be a better human being.


Shobha Bhutada
24th JAN, 2018
Porbandar.