A Struggle is Life

Mystery envelops the origin of life on earth.He must adjust himself to the social environment
Science has done much to unravel the mysteriesand derive benefit from its benign aspects.
of nature, but the riddle of life still remainsSometimes the social environment is not healthy,
unsolved. No answer has been given so theand therefore, inimical to his growth and
question, how did life come into this once lifelessdevelopment. In such cases he has got to fight
earth? But if the origin of life is shrouded inwith that society, its prejudices and harmful rites
darkness, not so is its character. Its essentialand customs. If he is strong, he triumphs,
feature is struggle. If there is any commondragging the society tied to his triumphal chariot.
element among all forms of life, high and low, it isBut if he is week, he succumbs and is crushed by
this continuous struggle. If there is any commonthe social environment. How bitter can this
element among all forms of life, high and low, it isstruggle be will be evident from the life history of
this continuous struggle. Pain and suffering born ofany great social reformer.
this struggle permeate life, and rightly has FrancisIf man is a social being, he has a political
Thomson said,existence. He lives in a state and is either a citizen
We are born in other's pain,or a subject. He struggles for political status,
And perish in our own.power and privileges. Those who are independent
The cause has alighted not only on man but onand those who are dependent, fight alike, only in
the entire animate and inanimate creation. Thedifferent ways and perhaps with different
slender struggles with thousand impediments onweapons, but fight there is. In the modern world,
its forward course and the planets roll roundthere is going on a continuous warfare against
fighting with innumerable attractions. The sameautocratic powers, against vested interests,
cruel struggle goes on in the animal world, and soagainst the innate selfishness and avarice of the
fierce it is there that sometimes a whole speciesrich and the powerful. The cry for socialism is
becomes, extinct. The survival of the fittest isrending the air.
the law of nature, so struggle goes on not onlyBut the present day man has come to realize
on this earth, but in the sky above and in thethat political power alone will not bring him
ocean below.comfort. So he fights for economic well being.
In the life of man is seen the same struggle fromThis economic problem has, of late begun to
the cradle to the grave, the fetus in the mother'susurp men's whole attention. The struggle is
womb grows by struggling with adversekeenest in this field. Here ruthless competition is
conditions. The cry of the newborn babydriving the poor and the weak to the wall. But the
announces the coming fight of life. The child'sstruggle of human life is not confined to the
fretting, crying, crawling and stumbling are butsphere of social, political and economic problems, it
maneuvers in a long campaign. When it grows intois also seen in man's search for truth and religion.
a man, there begins another phase of its fight.Here the dictum, "no pain, no gain," is awfully true.
Man has diverse enemies to struggle with. FirstSo all through life, in the high and the low spheres,
begins his lifelong struggle with the forces ofthere is present this struggle. The struggle arises
nature. As he grows up, there comes his strugglein man from his desire to improve his condition.
with himself with his own passions and prejudices.There is in him an element of abiding discontent
These are sometimes the most dangerouswhich is never satisfied and which drives him from
enemies of man and the most difficult of all kindssphere to sphere. His greatness as well as his
of knowledge, so self conquest is the mostmisery are alike born of this discontent. So long
arduous of all conquests. We may conquer theas this will remain in man, the essence of life will
whole and yet remain a slave to ourselves, tobe struggle. As the whole creation is trying to
just, greed, avarice, anger and jealously. The firstrealize itself, this struggle is present in all the
and the foremost duty of a man, therefore, is tospheres and permeates life from the highest to
fight and conquer these internal foes.the lowest. Truly has Emerson said,
But man is also a social being, living in a societyStriving to be man, the worm
and drawing nourishment from it. To liveMounts through all the spires of form.
peacefully in a society requires conscious effort.Man must know to swim along the nature.