by Navid Zaidi

کوڈی دمڑی پلے نہ کائی

پار ونجن نوں میں سدھرائی

نال ملاحاں دے نہیں اشنائی

جھیڑاں کراں وللیاں

تانگھ ماہی دی جلی آں

I have no hard cash on me, I am penniless

Still I am eager to get across the waters

I have no acquaintance with the boatmen

I pick up a quarrel with them foolishly

I am consumed by the longing for my Beloved …….Bulleh Shah

Sometimes we pick up fights needlessly with our superiors, employers, friends, spouses, children, and parents without thinking that we depend on them in many ways. We wish to get somewhere in life and be successful but don’t realize that we live in a complex and interconnected world where we need the help of so many people around us even to accomplish small tasks. They are the boatmen in our lives that ferry us across the waters in the journey of life. We should make a sincere effort to get to know all of these boatmen, make a connection and try to get along without losing ourselves.

Boatmen come in many forms in our lives. If they are sincere people and we keep taking them for granted, we may eventually burn the bridges because of our wrong attitude. We need to keep our ego in check, which is the main obstacle in our understanding of the boatmen.