When you do things yourself you become self – reliant. You develop confidence by doing a particular job again and again. Self- reliance is very essential for happiness in life. Otherwise you’ll keep looking for other’s help to get you out of every problem. Parents make a small child walk a few steps, but later when the child steadies himself on his own feet, they let him go by himself. They assure that he can manage on his own and is no more dependent on them. It is a feeling of great satisfaction for the parents to see their children self – reliant in every field of life. There couldn’t be greater happiness than this for them, though at times they might have been strict. Sometimes, the harsh attitude of the parents is not all that pleasant for the children, but they have to do it in the larger interest of their development. Even in the animal kingdom we have examples of some creatures making their young ones independent in a very cruel way. The eagles are such birds. The habit of eagles is that when the time comes, the mother bird pushes her young ones out of the nest. She often drops the frightened young one 90 feet or more before she swoops down under it and carries it back to safety. Every fifteen minutes the mother bird repeats this action. She continues doing it until the eaglet begins to fly on its own. The ornithologists, the people who study bird – life, are well aware of this cruel treatment of the bird, but to an ordinary onlooker who has never seen this before, the behaviour of the adult bird is very strange and unkind. The eagles have a strong instinct – a natural sense that if the babies were not pushed out of the nest they would never make an effort on their own to spread their wings. They would be happy to remain there indefinitely. They will never learn to soar and fly. “God helps those who help themselves” is a saying about self – reliance. The confidence that you gain by doing things all by yourself makes you cross all difficulties in your way. ‘Self – belief is great strength of an individual. You may have some help in any of your tasks, but the help and strength that you draw from within can never match it. It has been rightly said by Plato, a great thinker: “The man who makes everything that leads to happiness, depends upon himself and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of manly character and wisdom.” In any game,it is your own skill that makes you a winner or a loser. So, in life we have to play the cards whatever they be to the best of our skill. For acquiring best skill we have to practice hard to achieve it. All achievers have to go through very hard work and tough restriction. You may not scale the highest peak, but if you understand the fruit of your own labour, however small, is sweeter than all the riches of the world. We raise ourselves in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. A child who does everything all by himself is praised by parents, teachers and friends alike. A self reliant child would take care of his books and the cleanliness of his clothes and uniform. He is orderly and organised by habit. He feels confident and secure at home and in school. He does his homework properly and regularly without anybody’s help. He feels very happy all the time.
