Seniority around the world is perceived as a concept in which one more experienced individual guides his supposed junior in a myriad of ways. Whilst some of those ways may be thought as confrontational and aggressive in nature, they are the ones that truly mould you in the way you are shaped. Seniority is very much similar to a recurring cycle: initially you call it antagonistic and strive to repel its impacts in everyday life but sooner or later, the epiphany occurs that only through experiencing seniority, you receive the knowledge and wisdom it requires to become a good senior in the future yourself. This cycle is extremely prominent in this ever-expanding world. It is what prepares an individual to step into this cruel globe and make a mark of himself, which is to be emblazoned in history forever.
Studying in a boarding school myself, I have had quite a number of episodes in which seniors have led me towards the right direction and assisted me in finding a better version of myself. Throughout my journey, I faced countless situations in which I came in the wrong spotlight, yet each and every time, there was a senior that helped me reach redemption and correct those wrongs. The funny thing about seniors is how initially they are thought of as rude, self-centred adversaries, but the bonds forged with those seniors are what that stay forever new and healthy. Though there may be anarchy amongst these seniors, there is a certain harmony given to that chaos which builds the lifelong relations between us, and makes us stick together through the thick and thins and the ups and downs.
Furthermore, through seniority a hint of hierarchy of the external world is also experienced. For instance, if an employee has been a valuable member of a company for a long duration, it is of high probability that he will be positioned at a higher rank proudly displaying his seniority over to the recently joined staff glimpsing back at the initial point of hierarchy. It would be paramount in the chain of command of an organization as the highly ranked employee would guide the currently lower ranked ones and assist them in increasing their skill sets, with the purpose that one day those employees might take his position in future.
An individual in his life, goes through several transformations, whilst some of them being voluntary and beneficial but some not so much, yet what remains common amongst all these metamorphoses is the amount of knowledge and experience you gain from each one. Similarly there comes a phase when it’s the time for you to guide your juniors and preach those concepts to them which your beloved seniors taught you in the hopes of continuing their legacy. An old age adage by Alexis Carroll, “Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor” clearly puts this recurring cycle of being a junior to becoming a senior in a nutshell and highlights the role of seniority in an individual’s life.
This concept exhibits itself in multiple ways on multiple occasions in life, each time teaching a new lesson and strengthening the comprehension skills of obstacles that try to hinder one
Author – Kartavya Jain
The Doon School
