Sunday, March 21, 2010

To everyone who thinks I'm a kid!

Lately I've been enjoying staying alone. And to such an extent that I've started being so by choice. Obviously sometimes I do not have any other option when everyone else enjoys playing anything that requires movement of ankles. But even otherwise, I've now started pondering upon few things of much more importance than the usual gossip of bitching/judging/mocking at people and discussing about people's behaviour and characters which is what people here generally do whenever together. And as a result of this I've found a renewed love for critical reading.
Reading up problematizing stuff and the inefficiencies of the governmental policies, non inclusion of people, people satisfied with what they have, people demanding things, people not providing things, people trying to bring a change in the society, in the system, suggesting solutions etc. etc. I have come to realize that most of the worldly problems stem from what is termed as 'basic human nature'. And this basic human nature includes everything that is problematic but no one wants to change/remove, hence, the justification of them being 'human'! As an example I would like to mention in particular, greed.
Desire for more, the greed to have more than needed and not just the want to have more, but the want to have more than others is something that results in most of the injustices in this world. Be it exploitation or powerlessness or discrimination (inequality in general).. be it the disobedience of rules by law makers (because they consider themselves above them) or by the law takers who aren't law makers (because they find it self-disrespectful and powerless to obey them non-voluntarily).. be it the reason behind any violence or be it corruption.. And not just injustices, even the reason behind people being judgmental, skeptical, distrustful about everyone and the causes of hatred generate from this perpetual want for more/dissatisfaction of material things. It is incredible to know how much we depend on things and how much do material creations and inanimate objects rule over us rather than us ruling over them and then we all also agree to the fact that any social relation involving dependency results in some form of oppression/injustice or the other.

Until there are such feelings/mindsets, no law can make things perfect.At the most, law can try and put a blanket over the problems to temporarily solve the problem by actions which are alternatives to a definite conclusive solution. As Portia had said in The Merchant of Venice, "The brain may device laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree..." So the problem lies not only in the policies but much deeper. The problem lies in the lack of integrity and character in people. Everyone gets so much dissolved in oneself that things which don't concern otherwise start becoming the biggest problems in life. Everyone would agree to the injustices of inequality and corruption happening around us but as far as I am not being affected, why should I be concerned about it? As far as I am not the one being discriminated against, as far as I am not the one being troubled by inefficient and corrupt people, as far as I am not the one being exploited, as far as I am not at the receiving end, as far as I am being benefited by any act, why would I be concerned about anyone else? why should I think about how much I need and how much more I have?

It's good to be self-confident and not change, but without any justification and reason for it, if people continue to perpetuate such stereotypes which are problematic just for the plain reason that it is 'natural/basic human nature to be so', I don't see the problem being solved. The world is never constant. Things change and so do people and so does the world order. If I am not at the receiving end today, I might be there tomorrow. This is the best argument I could think about to sensitize people about prevailing injustices in society as it makes a person concerned about oneself and therefore, causes unrest to the stereotypical thinking.

And the problem doesn't end just at people wanting things more than others, but to be specific, it is about the perpetually increasing want of things which are limited and are reduced by distribution, hence the usage of the term, 'worldly/material things'. If you talk about intangible abstract entities like learning, knowledge and experience, you never lose them by sharing them with people. I won't be any poorer if I share whatever knowledge I have and neither the curiosity/perpetual hunger/dissatisfaction for knowledge make me put others at any disadvantage. As soon as this hunger for knowledge/learning becomes a hunger for success, the distribution of the entity demanded for starts reducing/limiting it rather than expanding it. The glorious 'profit-motivation' might generate profit but it can't generate welfare. It's like closing your eyes when in a horrific situation and feel that everything is safe and good i.e. it's a superficial illusion.


And now, to establish some connect between the contents of this post and the title of this post (sorry to con you in reading everything aforementioned), I read this letter which Nani Palkhivala had once come across somewhere and had sent to Ratan Tata on his retirement from the Tata Group (ACC Cement to be specific). It's titled 'NEVER GROW OLD'. If it managed to depict Nani's philosophy of life and bring him to tears everytime he read it, then it definitely has to have something of worth in it. Have a look at this:

NEVER GROW OLD

Youth is not a time of life. It's a state of mind. It's a test of the will, a quality of imagination, a vigour of emotions, a predominance of courage over timidity, of appetite for adventure over love of ease.
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm, wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair... these are the quick equivalents of the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.
Whether 70 or 16, there is in every being's heart, the love of wonder, the sweet amazement of the stars and the starlike things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for 'What next?'
You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubts, as young as your self confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair. So long as your heart receives messages of beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man and from the infinite, so long are you young.
When all the wires are down, and all the central places of your heart are covered with snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old indeed, and may God have mercy on your soul.


If we look at the sender and receiver of this letter, Nani Palkhivala and Ratan Tata, respectively, we can get the relevance of the message this piece of literature conveys. And to all those who think that I'm just a kid, well, being young is not that bad after all!