‘Life is to live, not to mourn upon’
In the rapidly growing and changing world of today, complexity has become a buzzword. Gone are the times when we, as human beings, used to keep our affairs simple, think simply, and let our lives flow simply for the sake of the greater good. Those days were governed by the etiquettes of ‘we feelings,’ collective conscience, mutual respect, and a will to maintain peace both in our lives and in our societies even at the cost of some monetary loss. Alas! With every passing day, we witness a topsy-turvy state of our affairs as well as our obligations towards our fellow beings, which has made our lives more complex than ever.
When a child takes birth, we create complexity in naming him/her from the maternal as well as paternal side. If the newly born happens to be a female, some orthodox notions make the situation more complex by treating her as a child of a lesser God or simply bowing down the heads in a sort of shame or disgrace for the family as well as for the kinship.
When this child reaches his/her school-going age, parents create complexity in choosing his/her school. Nowadays, a complex network of innumerable schools, both private and government, creates more confusion for parents to choose.
After spending some years at any local school, confusion and complexity again creep in while deciding about a person’s higher studies. Different ideas from various quarters flow in like whether is it better to get enrolled at a public or private college, a central or state university or even inside or outside the state. Even if we are not clear about the choice of our subjects, we again begin to look for suggestions from every Tom, Dick, and Harry, which again impacts our decision-making and makes it more complex.
The real complexity is faced by us when we complete our studies and want to look for any job. We are the victims of circumstances, and we hardly go for any job of choice. We flow with the flow and are the outcome of chance.
We give more preference to the unnecessary pressures from our parents and family members (who most often think they are investing in us), kids (who always enjoy pinpointing our faults), competitors (who always try to discourage us), and friends (who suffer likewise or secure their careers somehow) apart from our stresses and strains that grow side by side with us during our hitherto complex journey. We never think out of the box. As a result, our umbrella of choices shrinks, and we are made to prepare for any job not as per our choices but as per the demands of the job market; whether that suits us or not hardly matters.
At the outset, it takes longer than the usual time for us to secure such a job, and even if we secure it somehow, it becomes complex for us to live within it. As a result, our productivity diminishes, and we become merely deadwood in such a system.
Once we grow a bit further and attain the age of marriage, the complexity of choosing a working lady or a homemaker, highly qualified or low qualified, rural or urban or even from kinship or outside, again begins to shroud our minds and lives. Once we choose a partner as per the choice of our parents, a simple post-marriage dispute lands us in court. The courts again go through their complex procedures, which suck the lives from both sides for decades altogether in a complex manner by draining our health, wealth, time, and mental peace.
The same is the situation in our offices and departments as well as in our markets and religious affairs. We never opt for simple procedures in our work. Until and unless we don’t get fed up and drain our energies in completing the complex formalities of our official work, we merely become contented. Likewise, we keep piling up file after file instead of sorting out the cases in a simple manner. Again, when it comes to our sales and purchases, we never think of saving our precious time while being in markets. Instead, we are involved in complex bargains and waste plenty of our lives over there. Our religious affairs are not an exception to it. We create complexities even in our inter and intra faiths. We indulge in encouraging a faith of our own taste and discouraging the rest at the cost of logic and rationality.
As a result, we become ingredients of vast and widespread confusion, chaos, and complexity of vision, thought process, action, and conclusion. We take birth, attain youth, get old as well and die in a complex manner.
The need of the hour is to keep things as well as our affairs as simple as possible. Once simplicity is given a place and a role to play in our lives at any level, our societies as well as all other related aspects will become more productive and fruitful. We will be able to see better human development, happiness, and peace in every household and enjoy a life worth living.
The writer teaches Geography at GDC Bijbehara and can be reached at ra***********@***il.com