The common man aint so corrupt. We don't want to give/take bribe and so on. But really, do I want to waste two hours of my life and living talking some idiot OUT of bribe, then facing the consequence of NOT getting my work done, the hassle of police complaints, this-that? Don't I have a schedule? Isnt my time precious? Dont' I have a job to do, money-to-save for things I want to buy (out of my own honest living), friends and family to meet than spend effort and energy talking to some dimwit? Dont I have my own meetings-with-manager, group-work, and this and that, interests to catch up with? Why must I take the brunt of some idiot's thinking?
Get governance to make rules. I do my work, they do theirs. How to cause minimum disruption and get work done, is getting very important to me.
Of course, Id like to help someone if I can. I do voluntary work from time to time about causes I care about. But on a day-to-day, blaming me and the common man in general for all these ridiculous crimes of "society by and large" is so rubbish. I even send that Rs 1 text to fund raise (Cause its simple to do that).
The activist in me (also more appropriately called "rebel") is really on a long vacation. I cant be bothered with activities that involve protest. Maybe I would if I am directly touched by it, or it created a circumstance or if I watched Aamir's show and got all teary eyed. End of the day, I dont want to do someone else's job. On a day to day, I have enough to deal with. Be it the recipe for the morning's breakfast, commuting to work, or dealing with PMS, interest rate models or whatever. My life, my problems, my battles. Sometimes I deal with battles of friends' and family too. In the middle of this busy life (which I like), why should I turn a moral science teacher to dimwits in the tube station, is something I cant understand.
I have become increasingly aware of the fact, that I don't really want to change the world too much. I don't want to be the person that's campaigning for "lets stand in a queue". If people are not, then I just do what they do: get my work done and get the hell out. Of course, It would be great if there was "organization" and "efficiency", liberal thinking, non-littering, freedom of speech, sexual freedom of choice (or whatever) and all those things that we need (or whatever!). Not that I don't have an opinion (Ive a range of them, trust me! And more often than not I keep thinking about the proletariat and all these things that affect people etc. I even moved a muscle sometime for it. But really, all this "showing the way" is exceedingly preachy, isnt it?) - except that I don't think I want to be taking that much trouble of restructuring society (or whatever). I have work to do, you know.
I look at things that bother me. Does taking an order bother me? Not so much. If taking an order, for me, is simpler than changing a system, Id rather take an order. If you're calling that spineless, Im calling it localised time saving. When I was 17, and my grandmother insisted I wear longer sleeves - the rebel in me would wake up and kick up a huge fuss. Id have opinions, arguments, counter arguments, why-why-nots, why-our-society-this, why-our-society-that, safety of women (you know the drift!). Now, I think I would just wear another dress. Its really not a big deal. Taking that trivial order / suggestion or wearing another dress - all seem equally trivial to me. I have better things to do than pick on this subject and harp on it.
Sure, some orders are very patriarchial. I see all these anamolies in our society, that somehow allow the average male to be more powerful and able to execute decisions than the average female. But I really cannot be bothered discussing it anymore. I see corruption, law-loopholes being exploited, this-that, all that crime: Ofcourse I have healthy opinions on all of them, except that opinions are just that - opinions.
I have been asked before, "what are you going to do about it?". The thing is, I like being the change I want to be. I like free society, I like it to be like the ideal fairytale. I dont like crimes. I wish all well. But really, I have things to do that dont really involve activism. Points to prove to myself, things to buy for my neighbour's birthday. so on so forth. Even the olympics to watch, for example.
I hope there are many activists who will set the world right. I hope it all becomes all right someday, for all of us.
Until then, stop calling the common man "indifferent" and "playing into the system". We take the route of shortest hassle and go about our businesses. Dont smear us with your muck.
Thanks,
N
Get governance to make rules. I do my work, they do theirs. How to cause minimum disruption and get work done, is getting very important to me.
Of course, Id like to help someone if I can. I do voluntary work from time to time about causes I care about. But on a day-to-day, blaming me and the common man in general for all these ridiculous crimes of "society by and large" is so rubbish. I even send that Rs 1 text to fund raise (Cause its simple to do that).
The activist in me (also more appropriately called "rebel") is really on a long vacation. I cant be bothered with activities that involve protest. Maybe I would if I am directly touched by it, or it created a circumstance or if I watched Aamir's show and got all teary eyed. End of the day, I dont want to do someone else's job. On a day to day, I have enough to deal with. Be it the recipe for the morning's breakfast, commuting to work, or dealing with PMS, interest rate models or whatever. My life, my problems, my battles. Sometimes I deal with battles of friends' and family too. In the middle of this busy life (which I like), why should I turn a moral science teacher to dimwits in the tube station, is something I cant understand.
I have become increasingly aware of the fact, that I don't really want to change the world too much. I don't want to be the person that's campaigning for "lets stand in a queue". If people are not, then I just do what they do: get my work done and get the hell out. Of course, It would be great if there was "organization" and "efficiency", liberal thinking, non-littering, freedom of speech, sexual freedom of choice (or whatever) and all those things that we need (or whatever!). Not that I don't have an opinion (Ive a range of them, trust me! And more often than not I keep thinking about the proletariat and all these things that affect people etc. I even moved a muscle sometime for it. But really, all this "showing the way" is exceedingly preachy, isnt it?) - except that I don't think I want to be taking that much trouble of restructuring society (or whatever). I have work to do, you know.
I look at things that bother me. Does taking an order bother me? Not so much. If taking an order, for me, is simpler than changing a system, Id rather take an order. If you're calling that spineless, Im calling it localised time saving. When I was 17, and my grandmother insisted I wear longer sleeves - the rebel in me would wake up and kick up a huge fuss. Id have opinions, arguments, counter arguments, why-why-nots, why-our-society-this, why-our-society-that, safety of women (you know the drift!). Now, I think I would just wear another dress. Its really not a big deal. Taking that trivial order / suggestion or wearing another dress - all seem equally trivial to me. I have better things to do than pick on this subject and harp on it.
Sure, some orders are very patriarchial. I see all these anamolies in our society, that somehow allow the average male to be more powerful and able to execute decisions than the average female. But I really cannot be bothered discussing it anymore. I see corruption, law-loopholes being exploited, this-that, all that crime: Ofcourse I have healthy opinions on all of them, except that opinions are just that - opinions.
I have been asked before, "what are you going to do about it?". The thing is, I like being the change I want to be. I like free society, I like it to be like the ideal fairytale. I dont like crimes. I wish all well. But really, I have things to do that dont really involve activism. Points to prove to myself, things to buy for my neighbour's birthday. so on so forth. Even the olympics to watch, for example.
I hope there are many activists who will set the world right. I hope it all becomes all right someday, for all of us.
Until then, stop calling the common man "indifferent" and "playing into the system". We take the route of shortest hassle and go about our businesses. Dont smear us with your muck.
Thanks,
N
The idealist in all of us hopes for a better, more simple world.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of your arguments. It really is difficult for the average person to roll up their sleeves and dedicate the rest of their lives to making this world a better place. The best possible scenario I can think of is for them to take a course of action that is beneficial to them as well as society. No snobbishness allowed.