At various distinguished moments in our life, we would have
come across a point, where we tend to compromise on what we intended or wished
to have as reality.
I stand today, in one such position where my needs, my
dreams and my theory of life may just be a blur image of what I wish but quite
far away from the idea of realism. It is like a mirage that always seems to be
a lifeline to a fool thirsting for the realms of security.
The life that we dream of is most often the most beautiful
one. But the life that we live, is an eye opener. We who dream are some crazy
lunatics, bellowing away the craziest idea that stands far away from truth.
What exists is a gunny bag full of garbage, a set of social
rules that people take, because they cannot simplify the life that is gifted to
them.
There was a custom followed by the Kayan women (which has
been abolished to an extent, except to attract tourists), for which no
historical evidence is yet sought as to why the tradition was followed; where
the women were made to wear neck rings at an early age of five years. The more
the rings, the longer the neck used to look. It was said that this outlined
what the society then termed as “beautiful”. The misfortune in the custom is
that she had a high probability of snapping her neck as the spine becomes weak,
eventually.
There is an animated American Musical that goes by the name
"Phineas and Ferb". For those of you haven’t seen or heard of this
show, you can always you tube it when you have time. It is a story about a big
sister, whose ultimate purpose is to “bust her brothers”. The reason I mention
this show here is because in one of these shows, Candace the big sister, states
a very important detail where she clarifies that there is a part of the society
that makes money out of peoples natural insecurities and make beauty
unattainable.
To me, I agree with that thought. It’s not just beauty. It’s
the profession that we choose, the partner that we choose, the clothes that we
choose, the friends that we chose, all expose our social insecurities.
It becomes difficult to be satisfied. Because, let’s face
it, we are not driving towards our goals and our aspirations. We are reaching
out to what the society has tabled as success.
This is the tragic story that we endure most often, but
never complain about. We have become so accustomed to life the way it is.
However, this brings an interesting question to my mind. So
what is society? The Google definition states that ‘it is a group of people
involved in persistent interpersonal relationships, or a large social grouping
that shares the same geographical or social territory , typically subject to
the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.’
It is a dominant cultural expectation that I worry about
deeply.
To me I feel that a leader is someone who defines this dominant
cultural expectation. So it becomes necessary sometimes to affirm that the
leader is choosing the right direction for its society. And how is this
accomplished?
We need to question the normal. It’s okay to break the rules
sometimes and to stand out to be different. When we question, we build the
opportunity for change. A good leader would know it, and guarantee to build on
it. If the leader is not ready for the change, and if you are right, it is time
for you to take the reins. But it is important to understand that if change
should happen, we need to stand up and differ.
Sadly most of us do not encourage the leader within us. We
prefer being a part of a group that allows the sanctity of life to be ruined by
being rode upon, by not questioning the direction, the path or to where we are
destined. Why, because we cannot speak for ourselves, because we feel going
against the others will rip us from the society. We constantly live in the fear
of losing our social standing.
What we do not understand is that we were created to be
different. It’s our society. We own it. So why not remodel it, with the
changing conditions. We have poverty to think about, we have communal riots to
think about, we have rape and abuse to think about and act on. Weddings and cultural
variance is the last thing we need to worry about.
Let’s think about a future, where the generations to come,
need not live in the fear of dousing their own ideas because they want to be a
part of a group and not stand as one and lead to make a difference...
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