Two words we use so many times in our day-to-day life. In fact we have started using them so casually that they have totally lost their depth and purity. A dictionary defines a promise as “A declaration assuring that one will or will not do something; a vow.” But nowadays the definition seems to go something like this “A declaration made to get out of a sticky situation and to be later broken into pieces at your own convenience not caring about the feelings of the people to whom the declaration was made.” Nowadays promises are broken like small children breaking glass windows while playing cricket: too often and then acting innocent as if we don’t know what happened.
Here are some of the promises which people tend to break:-
“I promise I’ll quit smoking”
“Oops I forgot to do it. I’ll definitely do it tomorrow. Promise.”
“I promise I’ll wake up early from tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you, I promise.”
“I’ll be there, promise.”
“I’ll study sincerely from tomorrow, I promise.” (Students Favourite)
“I’ll take you to a picnic this weekend, I promise.”
And the biggest promise which people tend to break consists of just two words and the word Promise does not even appear in its declaration. Its none other than
“I DO.”
Breaking of promise usually results in pain. The promise is not the only thing a person breaks when he/she fails to keep his/her word, its the trust of the person to whom the promise was made that breaks along with it. And it is this cracking and shattering of trust that hurts a lot. Hurts deeply.
As I previously mentioned nowadays promises have been reduced to nothing but a means to get out of a sticky situation. Just say “I Promise” and get out of it. And the funny thing is that even the person to whom we promise somehow finds those 2 words very convincing as if they were some kinda legal bond/contract. A French writer Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld once said “We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears.”
But looking at the rate at which people are breaking promises, I personally am now hesitating to believe any person that says “I Promise.” People should understand that a promise is not merely a word, its a symbol of trust, a symbol of assurance, a symbol of respect and more importantly, it is a coin having its two opposite faces. If fulfilled, a promise can give immense pleasure but if broken can hurt more than walking over pieces of broken glass.
Make promises only and only if you have the courage, strength and the will to fulfill them. Let us end this with a beautiful quote I came across
“Promises are like babies: easy to make, hard to deliver.” -Author Unknown
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