We go about living our lives at 1/100th of our potential…things don’t have much meaning any longer…life becomes a mere routine… habits...ours and of others… threaten to choke us…kill us from within. You desperately wish you could break the monotony…yet something holds you back from sitting down and identifying the real cause of your discomfort…you are waiting for something to happen…to make life seem worthwhile…yet you don’t lift a finger to improve things…If you DO lift your finger…it is to turn on the laptop or the TV, and lose yourself in some fantasyland, in dreams that are just … dreams…You watch a movie, hear some songs, and feel temporarily relieved of that dread you’d been experiencing. But now…you are back to real life…fantasyland got turned off the moment you hit the “off” button on whatever device you were using…and you are back to yearning for something special to happen in your life, lamenting the lack of excitement in your own life…forgetting that movies are nothing but our lives…with the boring parts edited out.
Idle mind is the devil’s workshop they say…but when you are overcome by that debilitating inertia…you start believing that even a devil’s workshop would be welcome to lift you out of the nothingness that you feel...you feel lost, cut off from the rest…emotionally and mentally….you no longer feel strongly about anything…you once again start envying even the jehadis…who may have lost all reason, but atleast are truly passionate about something!You are forced to open your eyes, get out of the self-obsessed mode, and look towards others around you…they did always seem better off…so what’s driving them.? Blame it on your mood at that moment…but you find that everyone’s just passing time…escaping life…trying to postpone that moment when they have to sit down and confront what they truly feel…who they truly are…and you once again go back into the cramped, self obsessed world of your own thoughts and feelings…having lost all hope in mankind.
It is in moments such as these, that Hitler, terrorism, imperialism, emergencies, earthquakes, do-or-die sporting events…all begin to make sense.I’m not a sadist…but can’t help feel wonder at what happens to mankind when such catastrophes take place.
It took a Hitler to wake up people to life beyond their individual routine existences, and stand up for what is right….It took being forcibly taken as slaves by a bunch of foreigners, for our country to unite as a whole….It takes an emergency in Pakistan to unite the people in an extremely fragmented country….It takes a ban on the press in Pakistan to finally hear the sane voices of the Pakistani middleclass…which always believed in the right things but loved to play it safe….It took a football match to unite Iraqis across the war ravaged country….It took a Tsunami to bring people together in the true spirit of compassion….It took a Kargil War to bring people across religions together in our country….It takes true hardships to bring out our heroes….It takes a curb on our freedom….to bring out the best creative forces in people….
Ironic as it is, it takes Hell…for people to realize that they can create their own Heaven.
6 comments:
Great post.. esp the conclusion...
sure in a materialistic world...when everyone wants to do whats best for their own, a lot of disconnect starts to build up in the system...and as u say it needs a event like a war or tsunami to unite them again...the rich get richer in a materialistic world.. and this again catalyzes increasing disorder.. :( :(
thats why our great scriptures advocate one to lead a life of detachment...which a general human will never lead...
well may be all this is just a big big dream from which we will wake up wise in a completely different world and lead a good life !!
Good and bad is relative :).. the point is whether you can be useful to someone/something...make a difference...be passionate about something...anything...good or bad history will define...
hmmm........i really dont have an answer !!!
may be time will decide what one would be passionate about...ppl like budhha cud find it so early in life...in some cases it takes a much longer time...
and btw does one need to have a single passion? may be some people like doing a number of things at a time....
a very lateral example...some firms like McDonalds are passionate about only one thing.. 'food' ... while some firms like GE are passionate about a hundred things...not sure whether the comparision is apt.. but many of us are maybe like the GEs..
The last sentence is quotable material! I'll shamelessly steal it someday!!!
Confusion and ambivalence is pretty evident throughout. True that hell is necessary for heaven but that's besides the point while we are in hell. "At what cost?" or "Is it worth it?" are the question most of us would ask ourselves.
Having said that, really thought provoking! Keep thinking... keep writing!
Not worth it definitely...but very few manage to discover their true calling...or atleast getting passionate about something without major external impetus...unfortunate indeed...
keep going creative writer. "Tickled" to be a writer and you have started doing better job already.
well about post i do agree and i don't. agree time makes big leaders out of liliputians still who stops us from pursuing our dreams. do what you want and not necessarily world has to know that and appreciate it right? make a difference to your self , make a difference to "others" would follow the suit...
..... and i thought only i can dole out gyan !! welcome to the club :)
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