Question: Discuss ‘Desiderata’ as a poem that motivates one to remain optimistic and offers the suggestion to lead a happy and peaceful life .
Answer : Desiderata by Max Ehrmann is a highly motivational poem that acts like a guideline for a person to lead a happy life. The world is full of chaos, hardship, trickery, misfortune, loneliness, drudgery and shattered dreams while ‘Desiderata‘ motivates one to remain positive and offers suggestions to lead a peaceful and happy life.
- Accept the world as it is
The World is full of noises and to live happily and peacefully one should accept the world as it is . The poet suggests that one should accept the noise of this world ,but remain peaceful. One must learn to remain calm and silent from inside ones heart. The silence brings peace with it and further joy to our soul.
- Accept others
The poet suggests that one should learn to get along with others. For this one should not only give voice to ones opinions but also to listen to others opinions too. Every person even a dull or an ignorant have something to tell from his experience. The poet further advices to avoid loud and aggressive person as they disturb our peace of mind.
To live peacefully in this world the poet also suggests us that one should not compare oneself with others, because there are always some people ahead of us as well as some behind us . By comparing ourselves with others,we either become too proud of our achievements or become too bitter at our failures. So the best way is to enjoy our achievements without looking others.
- Focus on your career
The poet says that we should focus on our job however humble it may be. With hard work for determination we can reach on the top position in our career . we should be aware of trickers, who can cheat us and let us down ,at the same time we should not ignore the goodness of some other people. The world is full of motivation and we can get inspiration from good people.
- Love yourself
The poet advices us to “Take kindly the counsel of the years “i.e. learn lessons from the past experiences of yourself as well as your elders. We must strengthen our spirits so that we can face any sudden misfortune. But do not be distressed by imagining future misfortune. We should live in the present without giving vent to negative thoughts developed from ” fatigue” and “loneliness”.
- Be cheerful
The poet says that apart from all hypocrisy, insincerity, drudgery and unfulfilled broken dreams, the world is still beautiful. We need to look at the brighter side of the things and to be at peace with God and oneself. The poet believes that life should be lived and enjoyed. One should always remain cheerful and ” strive to be happy “.