Embracing the fine balance between personal freedom and societal harmony; compromise is the key to unlocking a more civilized and harmonious world

It is a fact that life is full of paradoxes. With day comes night and so on and so forth. The person who loves light only will automatically hate darkness. On the other hand, one who is fond of darkness will never allow light to come into his or her life. In the same vein, a vehicle moving at the highest speed is suddenly stopped by a traffic man to allow other vehicles to pass. At this moment, a person feels their liberty has been curtailed and their fundamental duty of steering the vehicle on the highway according to their liking and without anybody’s interference has been violated. However, the fact of the matter is that the said person’s liberty has been violated on the surface level. Looking at it from a different angle, it becomes crystal clear that this gesture is necessary to make a civilized and somehow harmless society. The stopping of a fast-moving vehicle and the driver’s patience to let others pass is the finest example of compromise.
Though compromise can be defined differently, the main thread running through all the definitions is that allowing one’s ego to be sacrificed at the altar of other people is compromised. Osho, one of the finest speakers in the world, said that to walk or drive peacefully on the highway of life, one has to bear the potholes of the road as well as the nasty behaviour of fellow drivers. Sheikh Atif from Pakistan also says that life is like going through a grinding machine. Without the quality of compromise, going through the different stages of the grind of life is inconceivable.
Walking on the path of compromise for a long period of time is not everybody’s cup of tea. As said earlier, it needs courage and iron-like endurance to compromise when, after being on the straightest path, you are declared guilty and punished for no fault of yours. In other words, compromise is done by those realized personalities whose vision is clear and whose goals are solid rather than superficial in nature. For a long-lasting impact, the highly-valued personalities bear everything patiently while the so-called opponent wins the day. Their maturity and foresightedness do not allow them to act in a childish way and defame the grand edifice of the building of compromise. It is these people who cherish and spread the qualities of compromise after bearing everything with a smile on their faces. They follow divine rules in this paradoxical world to let others celebrate worldly dramas while preparing themselves for the grand goals of life. Those goals allow them to go for a compromise with each passing moment so that the eternal flame of life is preferred to the ephemeral candle. If we take things at face value, then one who doesn’t compromise wins the game while the person who is always ready for compromises loses the game. However, as mentioned above, the eternal goals of temporary life need compromises as the pivot around which the whole machine revolves.
So, in order to embrace the quality of compromise in our lives, we must understand the real nature of life. The real nature of life is to avoid conflicts and unnecessary drama. One who is preoccupied with unnecessary dramas and meaningless quarrels in every domain of their life can never reach the pinnacles of glory and eternal bliss. In this regard, knowing the subtle nature of life is of utmost importance. Moreover, practising compromise is the other way of implementing it in one’s life. Starting from daily things to the national or international level, a person can slowly and steadily become the champion of compromise, and this will radiate in every direction. It is a universally acknowledged fact that long-lasting things take time to stand firm and bear every storm without crumbling under other things’ weight or their own weight. However, when the firmness of compromise is ensured, then with the passage of time, a large part of society follows suit and common people also begin to chase it.
It is a fact that positive as well as negative energy attracts people. In the same way, the positive influence of compromise will attract people and prepare the ground for a more civilized life. It needs time as well as ingenuity too. Patiently waiting for this to happen is bound to make us despair. However, the secret of life lies in getting up again and again if the cause is right. Let us promise to embrace the finer traits of compromise in our lives and make this ephemeral life somehow sweet and comfortable.

Syed Mustafa Ahmad