Clapping - for making a choice?

Clap : to applaud (someone or something) by striking the palms of the hands together sharply.

There are many definitions of the word "Clap" when you look up the dictionary. I chose the above as that is the topic of my thoughts today.

Clapping is an activity which we witness multitude times during a day. In fact would be one of the most common activity for Mankind. But when was the last time we "really" clapped for someone? Clapped as a heartfelt reaction to a great performance/effort? Acknowledge that the recipient of the claps is worthy of it and it is heartfelt?

In many of us, I have noticed a certain hesitation/restraint while acknowledging the good effort of someone. The usual reaction I gather is "if I was given a chance I could have done better"!! So while I am in the audience clapping for the performer/achiever, I could have done a better job, if only I was given chance, or if I had chosen to do it when given a chance (here I am assuming that the chance to do the job was provided to the person in audience).

Let us further explore the two important points we see emerge here : 1) Provided a chance & 2) Choice to do the activity.

Is it a throwback to our good old days that the opportunities were not many for Indians to prove themselves. The sheer lack of facilities to make it big? Does not being provided a chance reaction emanate from there? As compared to developed nations, we Indians did not have the right opportunities for quite some time. And of course, we do have examples of people who made it big as opportunities were available to them? Do we not hear/read about these success stories? But then who writes about failures? Maybe there are many instances where opportunities were surely provided but the result was a failure. That apart, how many of us today are deprived of chances? I guess the generation which is right now entering colleges did have the chance/opportunity to excel. So then does this class of people applaud achievements/performances with "true" feelings? I would rather have you look for an answer here!!

The second point is on choice. And this is pertinent to the question I mentioned towards the end of the para above. Opportunities do exist but the choice was not exercised and hence being part of the audience and not on the stage. Typical reaction to being a audience. I did not chose to do this activity, else I would have done better than the performer!! I am better, just that I did not chose to take this path!!

I have seen some forums with people predominantly from the developed world, where I felt the appreciation was genuine. People were open with their admiration for the performer. Why? In these societies, the opportunity issue is no longer valid, usually. They do have the opportunities. (lack of opportunity yet high performance, does anyway calls for applause). So the question is all about choice. 

No success comes without hard work, a universal truth. Nadal, Federer, Hamilton, Tendulkar, the list could be big, have all succeeded, no doubts about that, but has that come without hard work? A good case study for us to easily identify with would be Tendulkar. He came into 'being" in a cricket world, not alone, isn't it? He was accompanied by a close friend of his, we all are aware of the name. But then how come Tendulkar is the name of the game? Hard work, discipline (we hear legendary stories about this).... The choice.. To take an easy way out and have good life or to slug it out and ensure long term success. Tendulkar chose the second option. And hence the importance of choice. 

So what do you clap for? I can again put together two options. 1) Performance despite chances. & 2) Performance because of the choice.

Option 1 anyways needs our heartfelt applause. If Sarath Babu makes it to IIMC while his mother sells idlis on the roads, it does call for applause of the true kind.

It is the appreciation of the option 2, which calls for the maturity. The applause is for the choice the performer had made. The choice of slugging it out. The choice of sacrifice. The choice to endure pain yet continue. So whichever way you look at things, I think a heartfelt appreciation, hear felt applause would be the right thing to do whenever we are in the audience and see a great performance being enacted and rewarded.

I have consciously avoided discussing a situation where we can claim that the award is due to 'situation management' and not truly an effort but my only thought here is that this also falls in the choice category. Maybe you did not choose to tread that path. Someone did.

So next time you are in audience and see a good performance being rewarded, please stand up and Clap!! Someone would do the same for you someday!!