Har kadam par girey, magar seekha
Kaisey girton ko thaam letey hain*

Translation:

I fell down at each step, but learned

How to hold up others who may fall

I wonder sometimes how it is that kids learn to walk anyway.  There they are crawling around on all fours one day.  Safe and sound, balanced, close to the ground.  Perfect way to get around.  And then something misfires in their brain and they decide that it would be a darn good idea to totter along on two tiny little feet that are absolutely incapable of supporting a fat little torso!  What exactly is the logical thought process that leads to this insane reasoning - abandon the secure balance of four and attempt to balance on two!  This ideology is key to being human I think.  Sheer stupidity.  And all human infants seem to have it by default.  They all make that same stupid decision.

You watch a kid long enough, you can learn a few things about silly human behavior that is genetically programmed into us. 

There he would be, a little toddler, crawling around on all fours and drooling on the floor.  Then he would bump his head into something and land on his bum.  Momentarily stunned, he might issue forth a hiccup or two of annoyance.  Then reach out and grab the offending barrier, and use it to pull himself up on two feet.  Amazed at the heights he has suddenly attained, he would immediately lose his balance and crash back to earth.  Then he would look around in confusion to see who else has borne witness to his falling. 

Should you actually give him eye contact at this point, he would issue forth a grievous cry pretending to be hurt and demanding to be consoled and assured that such harm will not befall him again.

So I suggest that you ignore him directly and just watch him peripherally.  He may try to engage your attention with little cries of outrage because preening for an audience is much better than struggling by oneself.  But in this key moment of his evolution, do him a favor and ignore him.  Benign neglect is key here otherwise the drama will not unfold.

After he has exhausted his repertoire of sounds designed to attract your helping hand, he would turn back to the barrier. 

At this point, he would remember the exhilaration of scaling that unimaginable height just a few moments ago.  He would want to recapture that feeling again.  There is something so addictive about that nauseous feeling of excitement at experiencing something for the first time.  So he reaches up and grabs the corner once again.  He uses it to pull himself up.  This time he is expecting the view from the grand height.  So he stands there swaying for a few seconds before he issues a squeal of delight.  That is designed to elicit your admiration at his feat.  Feel free to respond appropriately.

If you ignore him or give him a tepid response, he will attempt to raise himself higher by leaning in on his hands and raising his heels higher till he is standing on his little tippy-toes.  Then he will bounce up and down using his knees and gurgles of joy mixed with oodles of drool will tumble out of a practically toothless mouth.  Isn’t that just like an adult human? Show off and make a mess?

If you are overzealous in your response, he is likely to let go of the barrier in shock and topple over.  Then you will be spending a few minutes consoling the bawling infant for your own stupid decisions.  So be careful in your response.  Less is definitely more here.

Assuming that your response is appropriate enough to encourage the kiddo to go further, he will continue to bounce in rhythmic joy for a minute or two.  He might even pick up the rhythm and just keep bouncing until he topples over.  Seriously, don’t we all do that?  We find something that we like, and then we binge on it till we topple over.  I’m telling you, its classic human nature.  We are idiots.

Ok then a bunch more standing around and bouncing will eventually lead the kid to mistakenly believe that he’s ready to take his first step.  And stupidly he’d let go of his support and totter off assuming that the support from plain air is about the same as the support as a firmly planted sofa arm.  This of course speaks to our completely delusional sense that causes us to launch into action which logically and rationally we ought to refrain from.

The funniest part is of course when he takes a few slow steps and realizes that he is going to topple over.  By now, he knows that toppling over is a painful thing and so panic colors his features and he waves his arms around grasping for support from plain air.  Realizing that no support is forthcoming, instead of just sitting down or going back to all fours – he comes up with the brilliant decision that since he is unable to maintain balance taking slow steps, hence he must now INCREASE the tempo of steps!  I am truly amazed at this train of thought, which is destined for certain crash.  I am surprised that with these kinds of survival instincts, we have actually survived as a species!

Being witness to this phenomenon, I have now come to the conclusion that our success actually lies in our stupidity.  We are human because we are frail and naïve.  We fall at each step.  We get burnt by our naïve mistake.  We learn.  We pay a heavy price in gaining our experience.  Every single step is a learning experience.  Our failures are the cause of all of our grand successes.  It is what makes us human.

I recognize that we are this completely idiotic species which gives us a unique attribute that we may not find in the animal kingdom.  We have compassion.  When we see another person falling, we reach out and help.  We support with our empathy and help our fellow man.  It is the compassion within us that makes us human and defines all our personal successes.

It is not our intelligence but our stupidity that defines us.  It is not our stoic natures but our passions that make us human.  It is not our sense of blind justice, but our sense of compassion and fair play that ensures our collective survival.

It is ok for us to be naïve sometimes.  It is ok to get swept up in our passions sometimes.  Sometimes, we have to behave stupidly and make irrational decisions.  It is in our innate nature – our innate human nature to do so.

Hum bhatak kar junoon kee raahon mein
Aql sey inteqaam letey hain*

Translation:

When we wander around lost in our passions

We are revenging against our own intelligence

Alternate translation by Sceptic:

By straying into the realm of passion
We revenge for our intelligence fashion.

*Both couplets are from a Jagjit & Chitra Singh ghazal.