The fun of playing, or the goal of victory?

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner: Pranam Acharya Ji, as you suggested, I have started stepping out of my house and I have admitted my son to a nearby school. I noticed that the teachers are harsh with the students, and I’m worried that my son would be forced to learn instead of being allowed to learn at his own pace. But I also know that there are not many schools that provide a healthy environment to children. How should I look at this situation? I have also noticed that I’m scared to take decisions on my own, thinking that they might lead to bad results. I have too many expectations, it seems. I feel like justifying my expectations most of the time, and I am unable to drop them. Can you please help me understand this better?

Acharya Prashant: Congratulations, you have started stepping out of the house. Now see what you do when you step out of the house. The work, the actions have to be creative, constructive. What you do when you’re out of the house must bring clarity to you, boldness to you, and wellness to the entire world. It’s not merely a personal thing.

So, just as it is important to be exposed to experiences, be exposed to the happenings in the world so that you know the fact of living so that you know what this beast called the world is, equally it is important to know that when you step out of the house, you are impacting the world in some sense. Be conscious of the impact that you’re having. Gain in health, and bring health to the world.

And you have admitted your son to a nearby school and the teachers are harsh with the students. It’s a little too early to say. Be watchful, see what is really happening in the school, speak a lot to your son, speak to the teachers. Let the teachers be fully apprised of the special situation of your son. And then, let’s see how it pans out from there. Don’t judge too quickly. Give the whole experiment a fair chance. Make sure that you are talking a lot to the teachers.

Any number of hours spent by you in your kid’s school would not be too much. So if every other day you were spending a couple of hours in that school, that’s what is needed. Obviously, you do not need to do that the entire academic year. Once you see that things are harmonious…