CHARLENE FARREL

I have a confession to make. Today, this is how I shall begin… I waited for the last possible moment to pen down this article. There, I said it and yes, I am ashamed too. This time of the year always gets like this for me. Being a teacher, the exams are going on, the reports need to be made, final communication with parents needs to be done and so much more all before the end of March. Every year, I find myself racing towards the finish line knowing all well that it is my yearly drama but somehow, I still find myself gasping for air this time every year. So what is it that prevents me from learning my lesson? Personally, I think, on some level, I like the adrenaline rush. I also think just knowing that, I always get through it eventually and it propels me to risk insanity over and over again.
Procrastination is seen in a number of situations. The whole idea of leaving it for later is something we have all been brought up with. The word ‘later’ is so nicely packed into our vocabulary that it is used plenty of times a day in plenty of scenarios including work, family, friends and the list goes on and on. It is with this mentality that a lot of us go about life. What we fail to realise is that doing things last minute takes away something very precious. The ability to revise and go over stuff again. We are just rushing ourselves to the finish line, thereby missing out on a lot on the way. When we look at the state of the roads in our beloved Goa, we can see almost the same reality play out. For years, the construction has been going on at a snail’s pace. And then suddenly we see things speeding up. As the deadlines approach, everyone is in a mighty hurry to get the job done. Let’s just hope one guy in a mighty hurry didn’t forget to tighten some bolt well enough.
Speaking about construction and progress, this month, March, also happens to be the end of the financial year and don’t we know how we scramble to get our stuff in order. How we rush to make our investments on time. We are a train wreck blocking up all the lines trying to file our returns and also to find every way possible to keep ourselves from being eligible to pay income tax. It is quite hilarious how we are all caught up in a continuous circle of ‘your duty-my duty’. Your duty to make this country a better place, my duty to pay for that better place making. It’s quite like the ‘what came first, the chicken or the egg?’ riddle. Like as, what needs to be done first? Development or do we pay our taxes for said development? These are a few of life’s unanswered questions that have always boggled us. As citizens, we keep questioning the priorities of our governments and the law makers. There is not much we can look on in awe at the way at which the things are going in this country. Yes, we have a lot to complain about, but do we actually do enough to be able to demand action?
Each of us have a responsibility on our shoulders and that is to be decent citizens and do the bare minimum, like cleaning up after ourselves, casting a vote responsibly, understanding our duties as feverishly as we memorize our rights, treating everyone with respect and yes, paying our taxes. The way we treat our country and its resources is appalling. We walk around with this air of entitlement where each one of us thinks we can rule the world and do as we please. Just the previous week, social media was flooded with a video of a so called ‘political big wig’ indulging in this very same entitled behaviour. No, it is not correct to drive wherever you feel like and no, you certainly were not there to help anyone in need, Mr. Politician. When we are called out on our mistakes, our first instinct is to make excuses for our behaviour. It is exactly this attitude that prevents us from any sort of progress. “Why didn’t you pay your taxes?” “I didn’t know I had to.” We talk so much about what is going wrong in the world and yet we make excuses when we are the wrong doers.
When we look at something from afar, we can admire the beauty of its splendour. When we take an object in our hands and bring it really close to the eyes, we see nothing. What we do is we wait till the last minute and thus come too close to the end, using the same principle of having things too close to our line of vision to appreciate it. Our rights are plenty and so are our duties, our government is also making its own mess. Alas, they are the ones we elect. So that is also our responsibility. Be vigilant ‘NOW’ and drop the ever common give a damn attitude of ‘I’ll pick it up later’. For later might just be way too late.