Our generation is racing against time. Everyone is trying to beat the best and be the best. No one stops to reconsider the boundaries we are pushing to achieve what is expected of us. Expectations: the one vulgar reality of life in the new age. From the minute we are born to the micro second of our last gasp of air, we constantly live under the overwhelming cloud of expectations. ‘Live and let live’ has become an outdated concept, even laughable. In today’s hyper-connected world, our lives are more intertwined and interdependent than ever. But does the inter-dependency stretch so far as to engulf the idea of individuality?
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. ~Oscar Wilde
Why? Why do we overly concern ourselves with status and bank balances and extravagant lifestyles and the all importantly clichéd ‘What will people think?’ Is it too much to ask every person to just concern themselves with what they are and what their lives encompass? Social media has given birth to a broiling mess of competitiveness that has left no one untouched. Today, more than ever, one is expected to battle for social standing. The battles might not be as bloody as the Roman wars, but they are as strongly indicative of the social hierarchy as during Roman times.
Parents play a more vital role than ever in building the strength of character that has become more necessary than ever before. Supportive: what does it really mean? The east has always prided itself in its family values and traditional beliefs. So in the shining glory of all its propagated values, the east should be like one big happy family? Wrong. The east is where the idea and concept of compromise has reached terrible heights; compromise means giving in and giving up and to have a thousand watt smile plastered on your face for all eternity. And the minute anyone puts a toe out of line, is the minute they are looked down upon and castigated relentlessly.
Happiness and peace of mind has become meaningless in this race to be the best. Parents and elders want official bragging rights in lieu of the accolades accumulated. So, essentially, if you are following the west’s propagated mantra of following your own heart, you are depriving family members of their well earned bragging rights, and God help you if you do so.
The irony is really amazing. Growing up we are told that we can be anything we want to be. But as soon as we hit that tender age where we stand on the precipice of making a choice regarding our career and most importantly the path that will determine our lives, that is where ‘family’ swoops in to gently but very firmly tell us, ‘Honey, kudos for all the effort you put in. Now be a nice girl and do as we say because this is what you are destined to do because this is what we have dreamt of.’
I wonder if parents and elders, while forcing the youngsters to follow a path so wildly different from what the youngsters want, ever stop to consider the long term effects and consequences. Stifling individuality seems to be the norm. Is it so hard to ask, to want, to choose for yourself?
So, what to do then? Follow the path set for us and become a part of the dissatisfied with life crowd, or rebel and be shunned? From what I have experienced so far, life is a constant struggle, whether you’re following a predestined road or breaking down barriers to do your ‘own thing’. It’s a battle of egos more than anything. So are we, the youngsters, the future, are we going to give in and bow out and forget about what makes us feel alive? Are we going to live a life of mediocrity by doing what we are told or are we going to fight for the promise of what we can be?
Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do as of doing the things they do not want to do. ~Eric Hoffer
Are we going to ignore our true calling and for all eternity blame others for the choices that we made?
Every Thing Under the Sun 