Sep 14, 2004 08:20 PM
1991 Views
(Updated Sep 14, 2004 09:11 PM)
Do you have the courage to reject a million dollar deal because it goes against your principles ?
Are you brave enough to opt for a job in a company that has been condemned and rejected by the rest of the world ?
Do you have guts to love a woman even if she is not beautiful or physically desirable just because your heart tells you to ?
Do you have the courage to love someone, let go if he wants to go, wait without any complaint and welcome with open arms if he wants to come back to you and never ask any question ?
Can you willingly work for days and nights over a project and let your colleague take credit for it publicly and never feel any hurt ?
Do you work because you are passionate about your work and not just because of the salary, perks and the lifestyle you can afford with it ?
So when was the last time you listened to your heart ?
And when was the last time you took a decision which was totally your own, based on your own instincts ?
This book is not some pulp fiction which you pick up, read and keep back in your bookshelf, satisfied. Reading this book will not make you happy or contented. You will start asking questions from yourself you have never asked before. Either these questions may disturb you incessantly or they may give you amazing satisfaction.
Like me, you may feel that you are guilty since you have given up your ?self? many times in return of public approval. Then you may start asking yourself if giving up on your own wishes has been really worth it ?
Like me again, you may look back at those profound moments of your life when you listened to your own heart and stayed firm on something even when the whole world was ridiculing and humiliating you for that decision. Like me, you may look back with a smile and remember how people were sure that you are wrong and finally, time proved that you were right all the way. Only you had the courage to take the ?road less traveled.'
Well, it depends not only the type of person you are but also the phase of life you are in.
Story
Fountainhead is a story of Howard Roark, a brilliant young architect, who is expelled from the most prestigious institute and then begins his endless struggles against a world which is mindless and obtuse in vision at one side and dangerous and cowardly on the other. It is a story of Dominique, a beautiful woman, who surrenders herself to Howard the moment she sets her eyes on him, that is when he was working as a common worker in a granite quarry. Fountainhead is a love story which is surreal and untouched by anxiety, jealousy or questions. It is also the story of Peter Keating, a contemporary of Howard, who follows every rule in the book, plays to the gallery, wins over the crowd and loses himself forever. It also narrates the tale of Ellsworth Toohey, a man whose only talent is that he can make his fellow men behave like puppets whose strings are in his hands.
Afterthought
This is a book that will change the way you think forever. The choice is yours and it always has been yours alone. To live the way you want to or to live as people want you to. You may feel threatened, emotionally blackmailed or pushed at times but the fact remains, that people who take their own decisions and remain firm on them are the only ones who are truly happy in this world.
A few favorite lines of mine from the book :
''When I look at the ocean, I feel the greatness of man, I think of man's magnificent capacity that created this ship to conquer all that senseless space.''
?My work done my way. A private, personal, selfish, egotistical motivation. That's the only way I function. That's all I am.?
?Great men can't be ruled.?
?It had to be said: the world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrifice.?
