Do we have it in us to turn behind to our fellow humans who fall down along the way and walk them to the finish line? Can we answer to our one true calling – the one that qualifies us as humans? Can we, just for once, look beyond our differences and distinctions and behold the Universal in all beings?
The history of the human race is a history of conflict and violence. One-upmanship is at the very heart of evolution itself. This pursuit to emerge superior has led us on the path of war and ravage. We have managed to manipulate, nay, master matter, which has spawned an age of materialism and a fragile existence feebly balancing itself upon externalities of form sans function. Physicality has come to dominate humankind, without the corresponding imperative of inner spiritual grace.
Need has long been replaced by want, and want, in turn, has suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of greed. Today’s human is a materialistic being. While the sages and the ancient seers of India ceaselessly pointed to an inner world for lasting peace, we have rarely had the time to paid heed to the obvious. The so-called process of socialisation layers our basic need for peace and bliss with the false goals of ambition, competition and manipulation. Consequently, we combat instead of cooperating.
A few years back in Hyderabad, National Institute of Mental Health had organised a running race of special mentally challenged girls. The children had just taken off running and had covered not more than a few steps when one of them slipped and fell. Bruised and battered, she started crying. When the others heard this, they stood dead in their tracks for a few moments. And then, something amazing happened. Out of sheer instinct, they turned and ran back to their fallen participant, picked her up and ran to the finish line all holding hands together. None came second that day, because all of them had made it to the finish line ‘TOGETHER’. Perhaps this is a timely pointer that compassion has got nothing to do with our mental faculties.
Do we have it in us to turn behind to our fellow humans who fall down along the way and walk them to the finish line? Can we answer to our one true calling – the one that qualifies us as humans? Can we, just for once, look beyond our differences and distinctions and behold the Universal in all beings?
Whenever peace departs, chaos follows. Crime is an aberration of human nature. It results from lack of peace — not with the world or with our fellow brethren, but peace with ourselves. Hatred is not our element. We are not made for it; or rather of it. Duplicity and guile aren’t exactly our dearest kin. Peace, love and compassion suit us better. Someone –I do not know who – once said that he doesn’t know with what weapons the 3rd world war would be fought, but the 4th would definitely be fought with sticks and stones. If we have the capacity to nuke ourselves back to the stone-age, then we also have it in us to harness the gifts of nature and promote our own well-being.
The world already stands at the precipice of total destruction. Irreversible climate change has been set into motion and life, as we know it, might not survive a few thousand years hence. Nature, it seems, is contemplating retribution. We have permanently skewed the balance of the world and tilted it toward annihilation.
Technology, as falsely believed, has the power to make life better. If that was the case, then it would not have required upgrades every now and then. Every few years, any technological invention which once prevailed, becomes obsolete, clearly revealing its transient nature.
The contemporary world is replete with ironies. We earn more today than we did yesterday, but our aged elders have to perforce resign to a solitary life in an Old-Age Home.
We celebrate parenthood at the birth of our children, but end up enrolling them in crèche since we are too busy at work to have any time for them. Our friends are reduced to mere ten-digit contact numbers in our phonebook. Our smiles and our frowns now require the sanction of those small tiny emoticons that have replaced written words. With this, emotions today have acquired a ‘visual’ aspect. It is said that once the great Charlie Chaplin participated in a Chaplin look alike competition and ironically he came third. The day is not far when I will have to pass a retina-scan test, the thumb-imprint test and even perhaps the DNA test before I am allowed an entry into my own house every day from work. In short, I will have to prove that I have a proof that I am me. And if, on some darned day the machinery that scans me goes haywire, my family will have no option but to disown me for their own good. This might sound too far-fetched an idea today, but will surely gain increasing probability in the near future.
Enjoying a good hearty meal with friends or family is not as appealing as announcing it on social media. It is not without some quaint coincidence that the word ‘selfie’ and the word ‘selfish’ contain more or less the same alphabets. Technology, has successfully explored realms beyond plain utility to afford us a wanton narcissistic indulgence. It is time we do some soulsearching and set our priorities right. May compassion lead us to a newfound wisdom and may the compass of the human heart point to its true north.
Team TNV
