The Paradox of Life

The Paradox of Life

The contemporary world races past at lightning speed with technological innovations being introduced by the second and markets suffering losses in billions of dollars by the minute. Men and women working frantically for a better job, greater status. Children studying for hours on end just to get that little extra mark to be on the top. The question arises, "Where are we racing to?"

In this apparent race of life, we tend to forget the more important aspects of life. Developments take place at any cost, even if it means cutting down your life supply, the trees or poisoning your own drink, the rivers. The magic of the nature that prevailed for billions of years are at a threat of destruction in a few decades. The beauty around us goes unnoticed, the language of nature forgotten and its lessons unheeded.

The concept of knowledge, wisdom and teaching also seems to have taken grievous turns. The world of a child seems to revolve around the marks he scores for a test or his ability to perfectly recall, word by word, the content of his textbooks. However, we forget that life is not about scores or text books but about living together and supplementing others as much as you can. After all, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Emphasis on exams too has dealt a serious blow on the knowledge or rather wisdom gained by a student. The often hectic schedules of exams means that students are dragged along with the flow or dropped off. Those who do manage to hold on often are not able to grasp the concept or message conveyed completely and to contemplate on the same. Children are taught from as "exam point of view" and as this syllabus often has to be strictly adhered to, many of the doubts that come across a child's dynamic mind never find a window of opportunity to be expressed and are put off and so is his natural inquisitiveness.

Younger children are often made 'disciplined'. Certainly, a basic concept of courteousness is essential but beyond that, if a child is bound by customs and 'civility', his natural infinite curiosity on everything will be extinguished. As somebody said, "the greatest achievement of man would be to keep his childish curiosities throughout life" and certainly such and man is sure to succeed in any field that he lays his hands on.

Another related unapparent "flaw" present today, as expressed by the "revolutionary" new teacher in the movie, "Dead Poet's Society" is the "Dangers of Conformity" referring to the tendency of men to 'go with the flow'. Nobody questions the system, until an observer often from outside the system questions it. Once in the flow, one is either unaware of its flaws or are reluctant to express them for fear of retribution and this is one of the reasons for corruption, inefficiency and often unjustifiable traditions. The great men that we often recall from the history and praise have all gone "against the flow". They dared to think beyond what was taught to them and dared to talk about it. Every single famous personality of the past brought to our by few moments of recollection would have at least one revolutionary deed or a concept ,completely unimaginable at the time, to present to the world in their quiver. From the times of Plato and Archimedes to Albert Einstein, Mother Theresa and Abraham Lincon, the examples are numerous. They all have realized that what one is told or taught in not always true or right. The mistakes of the past must not be carried on must be mended. And the first step to that is to find out what is to be mended and this can only be achieved by questioning that which is known.

These concepts have often caught the imagination of many great poets, an example of people who did not forget to take their imagination when they embarked on the journey of life. "The road less travelled by" in the the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost talks about the same. It may be harder to trudge along the road less traveled but would give one the satisfaction of fulfilling desires and trusting oneself and of course of doing something different form the monotony of the ages.

This leads us to another often mistaken and controversial concept, Success. The question, what is success would probably yield as many different answers as the number of people it is asked to but most of them would probably hint that a good job, high status, wealth and fame as their idea of success. And this is what many educationists are trying for their 'disciples' to achieve. However, in my opinion, as is of many others, success should not be attributed to wealth but to satisfaction, the satisfaction that you have done what seems right to you and that you ave contributed to the world. This view of success not only stops you from trampling over others in the frantic race to the mirage but also gives you a particularly pleasant peace of mind and contentment.

To the question," What is the solution to all these problems?", the only apparent answer is to be aware of what one is doing as the saying goes"Look before you Leap". Think for oneself about what others have said, oppose what is not right, learn from the nature, choose your own path, if need be make one, and above all , Think Anew!

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PS. If you find any mistakes,spellings or otherwise, please do tell me.Also, feel free to critisie any point I may have put forward or have omitted.Hope you like it.If you do please tell others about it too.
If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you might find the essay has many already mentioned points........ and this post being my longest is long overdue......