Go Faster Higher Stronger

Hi bloggers, friends and unintentional googlers landing on my blog, welcome to another post from yours truly! Its nice to return to blogger after a long hiatus. I visit my blog whenever I have some free time for introspection and I am careful enough not to spend it singing or watching youtube videos. But sadly for me, and you (:P) that happens only once every two years! 

So this time I have an article for you that I wrote for my hostel magazine titled "Citius Altius Fortius". As a rookieI got too carried away and ended up writing a descriptive article chronicling the journey of man through this particular lens. Hence it didn't quite suit the magazine but I think the article does weave a story good enough to be read and appreciated. So here you go.. And do tell me your thoughts on this post.

Citius Altius Fortius– The story of mankind

 “Citius Altius Fortius” the motto of the Olympic Games proposed by Pierre De Coubertin meaning “Faster Higher Stronger” for the 1924 Paris Olympic games rightly sums up the motivation and inspiration of sportspersons taking part in this worldwide sporting spectacle. But looking deeper, the relevance of these words extends much beyond the confines of the playground and into the primal nature of mankind. They signify the inherent urge of mankind for progress; to travel faster, to conquer unattained and unknown heights and grow stronger and lead a better existence. But as our society grows more advanced and result oriented can these principles alone guide us in the journey forward? Is there a need for a self balancing system to prevent us from disregarding our ethics and taking a short cut to success? We have achieved many a feat in sports, social strengthening and technology inspired by the three goals. Maybe it’s time to bring a new dimension to them.

Let me take you on a whirlwind of how the Olympic motto has translated to tremendous improvements in the society and technology in the past and present. “Citius”, the quality of going faster is a competitive person’s passion. Not only has Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive, set a new Olympic record for 100 meters at 9.63 seconds at London this year  we have had Chinese bullet trains set a new world record for the speed of passenger trains at 311 mph . In the age of instant information any important information can be relayed worldwide within few seconds in a 140 character message. As globalization happens, people and companies are moving faster across countries leading to better productivity and more customer satisfaction. The world is no longer isolated and changes in one part have an instant effect worldwide; the 2008 economic downturn in US and resultant turbulence worldwide is a glowing example of how connected we are. Internet speeds are taking a huge jump with 3G (third generation) and 4G (fourth generation) data networks arriving. And to top it all, even the universe which was agreed to be slowing down its expansion till about a decade and half ago, has now found to be actually speeding up! So the universe is finally up to speed with us!

“Altius”, is the desire to go higher and conquer un-scaled heights. Nearly 4000 people have scaled Mount Everest since 1953 when Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first scaled it . Our curiosity has led our scientists to send rovers to Mars and Moon and find distant galaxies even upto 13.3 bn light years away from us  (the current presumed edge of the observable universe is around 46-47 bn light years away from the earth ). Now that’s aiming really high! The world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa at Duabi, inaugurated early 2010, is as tall as eight standard football fields stacked on top of each other, and even houses the world’s highest restaurant At.mosphere! . Talk about scaling un-scaled heights in records and the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Michael Phelps will only leave you gasping.

“Fortius” meaning stronger exhorts us to become stronger physically, socially, economically and mentally. The erstwhile notion of strength in terms of oppressive power has been more or less quashed and countries including USA, India, Pakistan etc. have realized that real strength comes from a strong social and economic foundation. Today the most burning challenges in front of us are to provide healthcare and education to large masses and secure their future. Massive efforts from Indian government and UNICEF have led to polio eradication from India. Average life expectancy for the world has been increasing linearly but the statistics of developing countries such as India still lag behind those of developed economies like US by about 13 years . We are still looking out for effective cures for malaria, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer but we do have preventive measures and medical techniques that offer early stage diagnosis and cure. Prosthetic limbs, bionic eyes, hearing aids and skin grafts are a gift of modern technology to humanity.

But in spite of the achievements we may have made in science and sports, in spite of the political empires and economic conglomerates we may have built over the years, we have seen the malaise of corruption slowly creep into our system and become systemic. Even the best of us have fallen prey to the idea of quick money, fame or selfish motive. Take for example, the seven time Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong, who battled cancer but allegedly fell victim to the act of doping or Lehman brothers Inc. that field bankruptcy after years of riding the sub-prime mortgage bubble. In India we see a corruption scandal being uncovered every other day may it be Coal blocks or Common Wealth Games. It behooves every individual or enterprise to set a high aim but not give up on principles or ethics to get there. “Honesty is the best policy” is a long forgotten quote that is direly needed today. Honesty is not just being sincere to one’s own work and play but also being open eyed to not let or help others be dishonest. The recent conviction of Mr. Rajat Gupta, ex-Mckninsey CEO for insider trading underlines this fact.

Our civilization has a bright future and the three goals of “Citius Altius Fortius” will continue to inspire sportsmen and society at large alike. I am sure in the coming years we will invent much faster trains and airplanes, travel farther into space and build a stronger human capital through health and education. But along with this, I would like to add another goal in the motto of each individual, “Honestius”. I wish everyone who makes an effort to go faster or higher or become stronger does so with complete honesty and sincerity to the profession and his/her peers. Only then can we truly translate an individual’s desire of becoming better into collective and holistic progress. I end this essay with a noteworthy quote of The Bhagwad Gita :

Karmanye adhikarastu maa faleshu kadaachan.

Maa karma fala hethurbhur maa sangostva karmani.

(You have the right to work, but never to the fruits thereof. Not only should you do your very best, you have to do it with your best intention.)