Vivek Narain: Philosophy of Life on the Road
Prolonged periods spent without a static home can really change a person. I am Vivek Narain, but as I travel around the country looking for my father, I feel like I am becoming someone else, I feel like I am loosing my identity to the road.
We are all on a similar road trip of discovery because we are all traveling somewhere in the hope of achieving a specific goal. As we experience each of our individual journeys, we begin to shed our old skin as these journeys take us into a new body, a new soul, and a new way of looking at life.
As I face the trials of constant moving and road-tripping while I search for my missing father, I start to realize that maybe it is the journey that makes me a man, not the goal. Maybe our goals are important not because of what they give us when we attain them, but because of the life they force us to live as we chase them.
Once you achieve something, no matter how it important it is, you are always going to want more. Why don’t baseball players retire after they win the World Series? That is the dream and goal of anyone who has ever picked up a baseball, so why don’t they just quite once they achieve their ultimate goal?
Individuals will never stop thirsting for achievement, once we reach one goal, we will strive for another, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this drive. It is healthy and human to strive for new achievements, but I think people forget that the actual accomplishment itself is not what matters; it’s the path we take to get there. As the baseball player works up through college, the minor leagues, and eventually gets into the majors, it’s the journey that defines them as a player. An athletes style, skill and personality on the field comes form their work up through the ranks, it’s not the ultimate win that makes them who they are. We must be careful not to take our own journeys for granted.
There are so many ways for us to be tracked in the modern world, every time we buy something with a credit card, make utility payments, or even get car service; our movements are noted in multiple databases along with millions of other people. In a world where countless strings constantly track our actions we can only hope to be individuals by going on our own separate journeys. My journey is a small, poorly funded cross country trek to find my father, and it is through this unique experience that I allow myself to flex my individuality in a world of technological strangulation, now what is your journey going to be? Are you scared to find out?