Off-late I have taken an aversion to news in any form, be it newspapers, TV news channels or the latest to join the bandwagon - 'social media'. There was a time when I used to begin my day with the newspaper in one hand and a cup of hot tea in the other, going through all the articles, with great interest. Nowadays the very thought of beginning a day with the newspaper dreads me, what with news about violence - murders, crimes, assaults; news about conflicts - between nations, between states, between political parties; news about death - due to accidents, diseases and so on filling up almost all pages of the newspaper. I could avoid all news totally and stay undisturbed by the sad state of affairs of the world around me, but I know it won't be long till the bubble burst. There is no point in denying that we live in very difficult times, the sooner we accept it, the better it is to come to terms with reality.
There are times, when I wish I could just travel back in time some 20 years; life as I knew it then was so peaceful and devoid of complexities. I sometimes wonder as to what has changed over all these years - is it me or is it the world around me, or both? Every day, back then, was a celebration - of life, of love, of togetherness. Cut to some 20 years later, every day feels like a war. It is like you are fighting a battle for existence every day; you consider yourselves lucky if you get back home, safe and sound at the end of the day.
The daily battle begins from the moment we wake up. Suppose you woke up late one day and are running late for office, or your breakfast is not ready on time, or you are not able to find your dress or your vehicle's keys, everyone who comes your way that day has to face your wrath. The first victims of the battle - your family. Quarrels, arguments ensue and somehow you manage to step out of home. The next part of the battle begins; the battleground is the road, and the victims - everyone who is on the road. Pedestrians blame the people on bikes, people on bikes blame people who ride cars; people who ride cars, blame people who ride buses, and the bus drivers - they blame other bus drivers, car drivers, bike riders, pedestrians, and basically anyone who dares come in their way! The battle gets ugly at traffic signals, where the moment the signal goes from red to green, there is this mad rush of vehicles to get past the signal (as if it were a matter of life or death!) and the honking and cursing the drivers of the vehicles in front as if they were going to stay there for eternity. In the hurry to reach their destinations, people conveniently turn a blind eye to traffic rules and often to other people on the road. Navigating their way through the crazy crowd, when one finally manages to reach office, a different kind of enemy awaits them there! The battlefield is office and the victims, well every one in the office.
If "Survival of the fittest" was what Charles Darwin said about natural selection, it is "Survival of the smartest" that works at the workplace. Each day in a highly competitive workplace is a battle to outsmart the smartest. Add tight schedules, deadlines, targets, reviews, dynamic business situations and peer pressure to a day and getting through the day seems nothing less than fighting a war. After a tiring day at office, when you ride back home, the second part of the battle on road begins. You get back home, and the second part of the battle at home begins. This goes on until you go to sleep. It's the same old story, the next day, the battle goes on and on.
If one were to do a root cause analysis of what has changed over the years, I feel that the root cause would be the lack of love - love for oneself and love for the people around ourselves. Somewhere in this fast paced life of ours, we have forgot this simple yet powerful feeling that is love. From childhood, we are taught that the mantra for surviving in this world is "Compete or die". Children are not taught to love each other or help others in need, instead they are taught how to get good grades in exams. Of what use is a good grade or all the education in the world to a person who does not use it for the good of the people around him! In our effort to make children toppers and rank holders, we forget to teach them lessons in humanity.
All we need today to make our lives better is a little bit of love - love for ourselves and our family, love for all the people on the road, love for all the colleagues at work, basically love for everyone around us. A little bit of love for your family will go a long way in avoiding those battles at home. You show a little bit of love and consideration for the people and other vehicles on the road, and our roads would not be deadly battlegrounds any more. Reaching your destination late will not hurt as much as the remorse of having hurt someone in the process of reaching your destination. If you keep aside all the thoughts of competition from your mind, you might actually start appreciating your colleagues more and start liking your work more. Learn to love yourself and take good care of yourself, because unless you love yourself you cannot love anyone else.
The key to making this world a better place lies in this famous quote by Auden - "Love each other or perish". Each day of our life should be a celebration of love. All we need is 365 days of Valentine's.
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