Never Say Die

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Man is not born for defeat, neither for guaranteed victory but he fights on to survive, grow and prosper. In the last forty five  Centuries man has evolved from the unicellular amoeba to his present space suit only by his desire not to give up. In the last ten thousand years he has consolidated his victories for sure and because of his ingenious invention of agriculture has multiplied himself to occupy most of the earth. Man cannot cease from mental fight, wrote William Blake, and he has not ceased ever. He fought with existential fears and also spiritual fears. Defeated he was million times in his fight against hunger, disease and fear but he fought on to conquer in most areas to a great extent. He now controls nature  to a large extent, his other survival fears of disease and war too are manageable: But is he a victor? A victor of course has no finality. Permanent victory is always meaningless. Man's greatest challenge is now Man. We are now numerous unimaginably and everyman in his own way fights intellectually with the elements in such a manner that he makes the biosphere tremble. Humans have produced weapons which can destroy the human race ten times over. His new pet of this century is the AI- Artificial Intelligence - which can control the most intelligent to do its bidding. In the name of progress we have ruined the environment which had sustained the race over the centuries. We have made the climate change which we now experience can extinct us without an epitaph. So are we victors or victims of our own megalomaniac selves.

We are now in such a state that to celebrate our ' victory' would be blasphemous: but to acknowledge our defeat too is unmanly. In fact man has never acknowledged defeat even in the face of extinction or degenerate ruin. After the Archangel became the creeping Serpent under the Victor God's wrath, he did not surrender. " What though  the field he lost, All is not lost - the inconquerable will" writes John Milton. Adam did not apologize, never begged for  mercy. Man is too wilful to surrender, too proud to give up. Churchill in his memoire of the great War writes: In victory magnanimity, in defeat defiance. Man defies danger, destitution and death. He is not necessarily  magnanimous in victory but he is certainly defiant in defeat. After the death of Achilles in the Trozan War Ulysses comments- With the death of Achilles gone is Greek courage but not Greek cunning . Man devises deviant ways to reconquer. The ways may be demeaning but to accept defeat is death which man will never accept. People die fighting till the last breath. Abhimanyu fought the mighty warriors who surrounded him defying all military rules of the time, he knew that he could not defeat the seven great chariot warriors but he fought till his body fell inert on the Kurukshetra battle field. We celebrate even that defeat as a heroic feat. Death is a crowning glory for a man who does not turn his back. This is the glory of man; he rises after every fall, returns with the fury of  a wave to strike again. This is true of all battle fields. When Paris runs away from the field to the arms of Helen, she too chastises him: For it is  a shame to her feminine pride to embrace a coward who chose survival over heroic death. Man's 'this never say die will power' is seen not only in the tented fields but in every sphere of human activity.

In the social sphere we use ' failure' as a substitute for defeat.  A Surgeon tries to save life and uses all ingenuity to its epitonic limits. Raphael drew a perfect circle without using an instrument after several failures. Even Shakespeare must have failed for  words in spite of his genius. Madame Bovary was revised 39 times. A starlet in the film industry becomes a star after several C grade performances. A teacher-scholar devotes his time and energy to earn a reputation. A scientist never admits failure: he is at his project till his emaciated body springs up with eureka one day. The politician too fights his battles till victory saves his name. There are some apolitical people who fight elections without ever winning once: They defy all personal and situational logic. All this is true of our species for failure is death. This fear of death keeps alive the flame of defiance. Even housewives go on experimenting with their culinary art to reach the heart of men through their palates.

Defeat or failure shrinks the soul.  Man feels he is not worth anything. He puts in all his efforts to succeed. But the philosophical question is what is the meaning of success? We may say that man wishes to make his temporary sojourn on earth meaningful by showing or demonstrating his capabilities which may be beneficial to others. In lone cases the individual wishes to satisfy his own ego. Therefore those who ring the bell once and turn away are not true humans. Your victory over sky and earth may  not be  worth anything ; your knowledge may turn effete after five years but you must always strive to win. You should know that no glory, no record is permanent and it may not be worthwhile. With all our knowledge, science and technology we have not been able to put out the Australian Bushfire. But we must try and try straining every muscle to put defeat at bay.