You Never Know

Rishi Ram Paudyal

I like the phrase 'you never know'. This three-word phrase has a deep meaning hidden in it. In fact, this phrase may link your past to the present and even to the future. It also may give you hope. Further elucidation will make it clearer.

To begin with, I never knew I would even be born. After all, who would know? But without their prior knowledge every human is born. I never thought I would ever get married and have a family. I never thought I would come to Kathmandu and stay here for so many years. There are numerous things that have happened which I had never even dreamed of. And I suppose it applies the same to you all. So, you never know. The phrase “you never know” can be a hope and morale booster.

Life without hope may feel hollow and dull. The phrase 'you never know' gives me a hope for the future. There are certain countries I haven’t visited but would like to visit. Taking consideration of the present, it doesn’t seem that I will soon be travelling. However, I could believe in the phrase ‘you never know’ and become hopeful. In this sense 'one day' and 'you never know' function as synonymous.

I cling to these phrases ‘one day’ and ‘you never know’ and I adore them. They are my all-weather friends for both the present and future. They are the best companions I have chosen. Oh, goodness, what would I do if they would leave me? It appears, in them there is hope and the continuity of my existence. When there will be end of hope, there will be end of existence. What would there be to live for? Absence of hope can have grave consequences?

The American novelist and short-story writer Ernest Hemingway won Nobel Prize for literature. In his life he got married to four women one after the other. But why did he commit suicide? Because there was no hope for him. His artistic and physical powers were failing and he saw no hope in living further. Why do lovers kill themselves? Why do people don't want to live in this world? Simply because they don't have any hope. In other words, the phrase 'You never know' abandons them.

In a way, life is 'you never know'. In other words, life is surrounded by the plural of “you never know? One of my friends was single until few years back and didn’t show any interest in getting married. His belief was that his life would be like being in a prison if got hitched. But now things have changed; he is married to a beautiful woman and is happy. He happily utters he can't imagine a life without his beloved wife. So what happens in life or what life offers “you never know”.

You ask a foreigner who is working here or a tourist whether they ever thought they would ever be in this weird and chaos part of the world and they would say, 'No, I never did'. So, you never know. “You never know” could work as a panacea for your hopelessness. What do you foresee your impossibilities? Don’t lose hope yet. Because ‘you never know’.