Shooting Nowhere

Kumar was roaming about at the fringe of the forest, seemingly unmindful of his surroundings. It was late in the evening, and darkness would soon envelop the woods.

Suddenly, he found himself face to face with a hermit. “Are you not aware of the wild beasts living in this forest? How can you roam here unarmed?” asked the hermit.

“I don’t care if a tiger drags me away!” Kumar responded. “In fact, I wish that would happen!” Anguish was evident in his voice.

“Why have you grown so eager to become prey for a tiger?” the hermit inquired.

“Holy man! I have achieved nothing in life. One of my friends became a magistrate, another a famous writer, and a third one became an astronomer…” Kumar faltered, listing his friends’ successes.

“I’m not interested in that list. Will you tell me what it is that you wanted to achieve but failed to accomplish?” asked the hermit.

“Well, sir, I could not achieve anything; I could not become anything,” Kumar admitted, fumbling over his words. The hermit smiled knowingly, “My boy, you have set no goals before you. How then can you say you did not achieve anything? I know others like you, who never have a clear idea of what they propose to do, yet they lament that they have done nothing! It is like an archer who shoots arrows without fixing any target, then complains that he lost the target!”

The hermit’s words opened Kumar’s eyes. He thanked the hermit and returned home with newfound confidence and clarity, ready to set his own goals and pursue them.