Proverb Expansion
ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY
A great achievement requires persistent efforts and planning, European civilization is indebted to Roman Civilization and culture, developed in the ancient city of Rome. Rome, in the past, was considered an archaeological wonder. But it did not reach its zenith in a day. The Roman Empire started its sway in the 8th century B.C. It took hundreds of years for Rome to reach its glamour. It had the backing of the Augustan Kings who brought a fancy to reality. Since then the phrase has gained a practical significance.
The fairy tales take a child to a land of fancy and wonder. When he grows he is in his own land of fancy. He thinks of a career. He is in his own wonder-land. But his wonder-land cannot be procured through Aladdin’s lamp or a magic wand. He has to make efforts to change his fancy into reality. It requires perseverance and constant hard work. Even a writer or a poet who is surrounded with his imaginations cannot make his castles on fancy alone. He has a store of knowledge all around him. He too has to study and work hard to build his poetic caves.
A society, a culture, a civilization, a school of architecture, even a symphony takes years or even centuries to develop and reach perfection. The USA got independence by the end of the 18th century. It took her more than a century to establish supremacy in the world. The Vedic period, the longest in human memory, took rather hundreds of years to accumulate its store house of knowledge. Reigns of Ashok and Guptas took long periods to establish themselves.
The things that are acquired in short periods and through lack of imagination fall like a house of playing cards. It took a couple of years to establish Communistic state of USSR. It was done all in a hurry. Even the dream was not perfect. It couldn’t last even for a century. The steel curtain tells through when Gorbachev became the first President of a democratic setup.
We have to think of our nation too in the same perspective. The growth of a nation is a gradual process. We should do away with corruption at all levels. We should start thinking and working at grass root levels. We should establish ideals to make healthy traditions that would build a glorious India as it was in the past. We have to work for our goal strenuously and persistently.