The Lone Ranger

'No man is an island', someone once said

'its invitation to danger, its invitation to dread'

'Bring on the dread, bring on the danger,

I'll take my chances', said the lone ranger....

This is the story of the lone ranger. This person is individualistic and prefers to do things by himself. This is a person who has always managed things independently and has learnt to ace it. It could be any one of us. This story is about that one person amongst us who is fiercely independent, who likes to do things his own way, who is not comfortable with anybody else's way of doing things. This lone ranger could be born out of necessity, out of choice, or could be the result of upbringing or could simply be because there was no other way out......whatever the reason, the lone ranger walks his chosen path, all alone, most of the time seen by others, (mostly wrongly), as a selfish person or someone who finds it difficult to adjust or comply.......this is his side of the story....
With the many educational and occupational opportunities available to us today most of us have been away from home some time or the other for many reasons, for studies, for jobs, or sometimes after getting married......for setting up home. Being on one's own brings with it a lot of freedom and a lot of responsibilities. Initially the heady feeling of freedom overshadows any concerns or worries there may be about being and managing alone. But as the dust settles and the monotony and the necessity of the daily routine begins to seep in, there are a lot of things that newly come to light. 

Trying to manage life all by oneself is not an easy job. Sometimes it is very frustrating, while sometimes the freedom is welcome. While it is true that there could be times when it is felt that it would be better to have someone around, the lone ranger generally gets accustomed to doing things without others. He  finds it rather easier to undergo a bit of hardship than ask for help (especially if help has been denied sometime in the past when genuinely asked for). Whatever the reason, the lone ranger would rather be all by himself.

We find the lone ranger in different walks of life. It could be a self made professional who put himself through a lot of hardships and struggle to reach the pinnacle. Or it could be the self made academic who burnt the midnight oil and has reached a coveted position today. Or it could be the self made homemaker who raised her kids alone while keeping her house immaculate and keeping her sanity (miraculously) intact. Or it could even be the hordes of people who leave their homeland to sample life abroad. These are some everyday examples, there are also examples of some exemplary people like the freedom fighters who participated in the Indian freedom struggle, or the people behind numerous NGO's and charities who fight for those whom most don't even know exist. The common thing with all of them is that they all choose to walk their chosen paths alone, without any expectations of help from anybody, and make it big. These are the people who are always ridiculed and doubted, even frowned upon when they start their journey but are moslty applauded when they end it. 

Well, there is nothing right or wrong about living life alone or together as a community. I do agree that it is worth an equal effort or maybe even worth more of an effort to adjust and be around a bunch of people helping each other; yet, it is the lone ranger that is dearer to me as I see a fierce independence in him that makes him strong and capable of saying ".....well, I'll take my chances...."