Temptations & Ambitions

I am right.

"I am always right."

"I am right because I have money, and you work for money."

"I am right because I look so good-looking in front of the mirror while you look ugly on a puddle of rainwater."


"Or perhaps, I am right because I am smarter with a string of A's while all you have is a G-string."

And that, is what I call "confidence".

Many a times, most of us are confused of being deluded and being confident. But one can't blame them, because regardless of you being confident or deluded, you still know what you want and you strongly believe in it. It's such a thin fine line that differentiates both, thus it is always a retrospective thing.

If you succeed, you're confident. If you failed, you're deluded.
If you succeed, you're determined. If you failed, you're just stubborn.
If you succeed, you have a vision. If you failed, you're just daydreaming.

I think you'll get what I mean. That's just how simple life is. The winner dictates history while the losers sing poems.

So, the question is, what is "confidence" really? Is it a wise men thing or just an accumulation of previous success? The more you practice, you are bound to succeed at least once, thus there goes the confidence-building act. However, most of the time, we wouldn't know what was the "right thing" that made us succeed.

If we knew it, we would follow it devotedly and hope that it'll succeed the next time.

However, more often than not, we wrongly follow the same rituals, or even worse, perpetuate them to others, fortifying your beliefs (although they may not work for others) and building a stronghold of "fans" so that we'll feel good. The very same error boosts our ego, for no one rectifies us, either because we(or you) are too rich, too powerful, too educated, too good-looking (or too bald) or too few true friends.

But that is how sad life can be. There is in fact, nothing that dictates absoluteness in life. But yet, we would prefer to point fingers at others, or pretend that we are the wise ones, for we fear that we would be left in the dark. And such confidence somehow gave authority to those who have confidence, just because the others are too afraid to be on a different boat to be in the "unwise", akin the story in The Emperor's New Clothes. And there are of course, many scenarios leading to such disillusioned ones. Here are a number of encrypted scenarios for us to ponder.

1. A person who goes to temple twice a day and excel in studies will go to pray everyday, and his children will do the same as well.

2. A person who went abroad will have authority of the world's perspective, because he went abroad and had "soaked in salt water". And yet, I would presume my previous quote of "A donkey who went abroad will not return a horse."

3. A layman who had been humble and polite can metamorph into someone snobbish and rude once he is given a tie. And this lead to the saying "Never give a tie to such person."

4. A rich businessman confidently blames the corrupted system which got him rich in the first place. And blamed it for not making him richer. And the poor resents the system not because for the greater good, but because they could not benefit from the corruption.

5. A good-looking person can be deluded and thinks everyone should adore him and confess it. "Oh, I love your looks! You're great!" and anyone who thinks otherwise should be prosecuted, in the maximum security prison at the very least.

6. And lastly, a confident golfer will always play more than the designated 18 holes. That is of course, before he was being chased out of the house with a driver.

So, what really builds confidence? Power? Fame? Money? Looks? Education?

I'm not here to dictate what is your path, and none shall dictate mine either. But of course, this post is not meant to feed you with any tips, but in hope that you readers would ponder and think for yourself, if any of us are really confident, or are we just as deluded as men (or women) can be?

Besides, does confidence necessarily brings happiness?

P.S: If you think my description is confusing, here's something as equally (if not more or less) confusing definition from Wikipedia.