Give hope, always!

Author: Jobi Varghese, Bangalore

John L. Hall is the Senior Vice President, Oracle University. He paid a visit to Oracle Corporation's India Development Center at Bangalore in May, 2004. John addressed a meeting with the employees on 12th May, 2004 at the Oracle IDC building.

Some of my colleagues had already met John during their HQ visit. Even though they had told us that John was a very simple and friendly person, until we met him personally and listened to his speech we never realized how simple, straightforward, and pleasant he really is! We listened to a really pleasing, undemanding, and unassuming professional, who even shared some moments of his personal life with us! John spoke of his early career and also referred to the highly competent training he underwent early in his career. When he revealed that learning and experience, not money, was his objective in those initial days, we all marvelled how true it was with our career goals too!

Towards the end of his address, John told the audience: "I am interested in meditation. Every year, I attend an 11-day meditation program. It helps me to be away from the humdrum daily work and invigorate me both physically and mentally."

John continued: "In all these programs and all my speeches, I mention one point at the end: Always give hope to others. Encourage and inspire everyone you interact with and anyone you come across. Wherever you are and whatever you do, you can help others have hope for the future; Hope for a better life, hope for peace, health, and prosperity."

I was really impressed by John's speech, especially because John's "message of hope" exactly matched my views -- I've always believed that hope is what makes every man move on in life; If there is no hope, life becomes nothing but hollow.

A dearth of hope can put anyone in a mix-up as the story of the German tennis star Boris Becker goes. In 1989, Becker reportedly stated that he had lost all interest and hope in life because he had no challenge to achieve, having won the prestigious Wimbledon Championship twice and the US Open once. Statistics say that Becker won his first Australian Open title only in 1991, and never ever won the French Open title. Therefore, although we might contend that he had much to achieve and hope for in 1989, Becker's statement shows how much the sense of hopelessness can let a person down.