A youngster (Chotu Sharma) in his twenties threw a four year girl out of a moving train after a heated argument with child’s family over a seat. The girl is critically injured. (Source: The Hindu, Dec 9)
The news left me appalled and the sheer disgust I felt at the heinous act is beyond description. The loathing was too strong for me to just ignore the not-so-unusual incident. Yet for a while a sense of bewilderment engulfed me, waking me up to the stark reality of the violence ridden world from which the safe havens of my college keep me ignorant or rather subconscious. The only question that was haunting me then was: How? How can a man’s tolerance degrade enough to go berserk with one of the most innocent form of life? The most troublesome fact being, this is not uncommon!
Instead of the general bypassing this news as one of its kind, I tried to find what can be the plausible cause for the mounting levels of violence at an unprecedented rate. Is it the manifestation of one’s insecurity (Adler-ism), egotism (Freud-ism), or simply is man taking to barbarism back again?
Through ages have mankind progressed to its present state of ‘agreeable and civilized’ societal living where values, ethics, morals, and customs are said to be the foundation of a sustainable society. Although, treading on the path of violence have civilizations transformed with pacifism as the ultimate goal, but the transformation occurring today at the psychological level are unsettling. The heightened sense of individualism clubbed with the escalating ambitions are loosening the social framework which binds the mankind, diluting the very humane nature of our species. Never before have psychological scientists fared so well!
Change is the only constant, yet the changes can be monitored and directed within capacity. Ours is a society in transition with people like Aung San Su kyi at one extreme and the likes of Chotu Sharma or Hafeez Sayeed at the other. The growing intolerance, impatience, short-temperedness and egotism amongst many are a reflection of the direction we are moving towards. In the race of God-knows-what, we forget that life is all about being happy and happiness can never amalgamate with negativity.
The need of the hour is for each one of us to reflect and dwell upon the changes that our happening within us, for violence starts from one’s thoughts. Every single being is an important strand in the chain of change. We can bring the change only by being the change!
Not getting how to comment, but ya just 2 weeks back I also observed a very unhuman nature of some passengers.
ReplyDeleteWhen an old man with no money got into bus almost all(approx 10 were there)passengers shouted in chorus asking him to get down the bus, shocking the Conductor even, as he is the one going to suffer if checking happens and he didn't even think of that option seeing that old man's face. Of course when I said I will pay for him, even conductor shared some of the fare showing his kindness.
May be its as you said Individualism that is growing and causing all the problems.
Cheers Shalu, Nice post, would like to see posts more often from you.
Pranav:
ReplyDeleteAs you said, our every action must pass through a check-post in the form of conscience or introspection. An absence of any such regulatory mechanism results in impulsive behavior that may often culminate into an act of despicable violence.
As the life moves at a faster pace each day, the people are finding it difficult to keep up in the race. They choose to shed the extra "baggage", the likes of 'ethics, dignity, compassion, humanity' retaining only the bare essential tools for survival.
Is it any surprise then that we are turning into the very things we evolved from?
I think in life we have two choices: either to be satisfied and be happy with what we have, or keep on fighting to obtain more and derive pleasure from those achievements. None of them seems to be wrong ethically, but however, it looks as if most of us are now concentrating on the second one; the ambitions are escalating. The most dominating reason: peer pressure; a quest to prove to others (and not to oneself) that 'I am of worth'. Individualism and lessening of social interactions make the situation worse. And the sad part is that social values and ethics are weakened in such scenario.
ReplyDelete@ All: Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
ReplyDelete@ Pranav: It depends upon how we look at that'extra baggage' coz its not... infact it is vital to the functioning of our societal machinery. The day it is gone.. probably we will be too!
Nice post. I think it is dissatisfaction from one's life that fuels the anger we see. Escalating ambitions for many if not all, add on to the disturbance in their life and thoughts. They don't get what they want, and things become more miserable. However, cases like Chotu's occur mostly because people think they'll get away with it. Which is another serious issue (and reason for more than half the crimes).
ReplyDelete