Respect—It’s Simple Give And Take

Respect is something that all of us expect from others. But when it comes to others do we have the same feeling? The answer in most cases is NO.

So why is it that we feel slighted when people do no respect us, but we fail to see that point when dealings with others? In a restaurant most patrons show little or no respect to waiters, but expect waiters to be servile to the extent of licking their soles.

The reason according to me is Ego and the belief that I am special. What we fail to realize that the other person is also thinking on the same lines. Where and how does that leave us as a society? Lonely, rude, and violent, I say.

Mahatma Gandhi had said that you can judge a person’s character by the way he treats people who are lower down the economic ladder than him. If we use that yardstick to map peoples’ characters in our country, I assure you that we as a nation will be found woefully wanting.

Our problem is that most respect only wealth and success. And given the fact that people in a country are never going to be equally wealthy and/or successful, we are individually never going to respect each other.

As we do not respect each other, we do not respect and cherish our country. As a result, we see no wrong in fighting with each other, destroying one other’s homes, damaging public infrastructure, and behaving in a manner that’s unbecoming of civilized societies.

That brings me to another issue. Are we a society civilized? To answer that question, let us look at the meaning of “civilized”.

In the verb form, civilize means “to bring out of a savage, uneducated, or rude state; make civil; elevate in social and private life; enlighten; refine.”

In the adjective form civilize means: a) having an advanced or humane culture, society, etc; b) polite; well-bred; refined; c) of or pertaining to civilized people; c) easy to manage or control; well organized or ordered.

Now do we as a society behave in any of the manner that the definitions of civilized denote. I would say NO. You as a reader are free to form your own opinions. That according to me is respecting your freedom to decide.

In short, how great we as a people or as a country are should be determined by how well we treat one another and not by our ability to fight, accumulate wealth, build nuclear arsenals, increase the size of our armed forces, and treat fellow beings as inferior to us.

We always crib that the West does not treat us with the respect that we deserve. My question is why anyone should treat us with respect when we do not accord the same treatment to our fellow countrymen? The day we start respecting our fellow citizens is the day the world will start respecting us. It’s for us to decide if we give respect and gain respect or keep treating people with disdain and continue to be paid back in the same coin.

East & West

Sorry Mr. Friedman, the world ain’t flat. In fact, the world appears to be even more topsy-turvy than ever before. I read an article in the Economic Times this morning of how a group of women in Sweden was protesting its inability to swim topless in pools. The logic is if men can do so why not women?

Fair enough. And I don't see most men protesting that logic. I think even the pundits, mullahs, and priests won’t object as long as they can keep womenfolk in their respective areas of control behind veils.

The point I am trying to make is the vast difference in issues faced by people living in the underdeveloped/developing world and those in the developed world.

Back home, water, housing, clothing, corruption are issues that haunt people. In the developed world, it’s all about been there done that and being able to return to basics: we roamed nude before we became intelligent, didn’t we?

For us, a train compartment supposed to hold 72 but carrying 400 is a problem. For the West, having to stand in crowded compartments (nothing compared to our locals) is trauma.

Back home, indiscriminate smoking and spitting in public is irksome; in the West, not being able to smoke in public is. As for spitting, they hold competitions to determine who can spit the farthest. The winner even gets to take home a trophy and a cash prize.

For us eating out is a luxury, though that’s changing. For the West, it’s the way of life. We struggle to regulate our own. They fight to regulate the world. Caring for the aged is a given for our people; they have old age homes. Though most here in today’s time curse their luck for being saddled with the aged, they use that as a virtue to point fingers at the West. The West has no such doubts; when cattle grow old, leave them out to graze is their philosophy.

Yes, the world is indeed flat when one talks about money. East or West money does make the world go round. Other than that, it’s all about barely existing versus existing with plenty.

Sorry, Mr. Friedman, I beg to differ. The world certainly ain’t flat.

(Thomas Friedman is the celebrated NewYork Times journalist who wrote the book, The world Is Flat.)

Of Knowledge And Power

Human beings, since recorded history and maybe before, have always acknowledged the value of knowledge and its potential to break down barriers. Scriptures count the knowledgeable as wealthy and not the moneyed. However, the flip side of the coin: knowledge has also always been equated with power.

More so in today’s times when mankind is busy milking knowledge to accumulate power. Parents and teachers are emphasizing the value of knowledge as a tool to make money and gain power through knowledge. Nothing wrong in that, except excess of even nectar is poison.

Students graduate with starry money dreams. In the quest for money and through it power, the very basic of knowledge dispelling darkness and helping people look beyond self has been limited to books. I don’t think this truth of life is even taught anymore. If anything, this fact is so well hidden that it is being considered more of a vice than virtue.

It’s perfectly alright to utilize knowledge to make money and assume leadership roles. But I am not so sure of using knowledge to unleash a vicious cycle of power and greed.

Politicians implore people to rise above the petty for the betterment of mankind. Unfortunately, they fail to practice what they preach and rise above self and the chair and work for the benefit of their fellow beings. Businessmen talk of corporate social responsibility, but most use it more as a marketing tool. We, the commons, eagerly point out the ills of others, but commit the very same mistakes. And when I commit it, the reason is necessity and not greed.

The very essence of acquiring knowledge is to help not so fortunate fellow beings bridge the gap and rise up the social ladder. If we believe in God, then Knowledge according to that God is supposed to be the elixir of life and not the poison that it has become today.

In the power crazy times that we live today, we have forgotten that when social and class divides narrow, discord will reduce. When differences are not so stark, satisfaction will become the rule and not the exception. It’s then that peace will reign supreme.

But with every passing day we are moving further away from this truth. We have learnt that to get work done, to be heard, Power is essential. And how does one get power? How else but through having more of the precious commodity called Money. And the vicious cycle continues to play out every day.

Our main problem is the need to own everything. That knowing well that we bring nothing and take nothing amazes me. All of us know this truth, but do not wish to acknowledge. The reason: that’s the way we are conditioned from birth. It’s for us to break this thought process. It’s never too late to realize the potential of knowledge to bring positive change.

So let’s use learning to bring down established walls, help people, and eliminate limiting barriers. Let’s act on what we have always known: using knowledge for the betterment of mankind over personal gains. In that process, if there are personal gains, so be it. And such gains according to me will be more in terms of self satisfaction, peace, and happiness at having helped others. Let us use knowledge to facilitate peace, eliminate barriers, and narrow the gap between the have and have not. If we don’t, then trust will be an extinct commodity. People will live in isolated prisons, and destruction will be the order of the day.

It’s for us to decide whether we want to live in heaven or hell, for it’s all here.

Left Right Left

The Left parties never cease to amaze me. For one, I could never figure out how can a set of people be so far removed from the realities of the modern world. I read in a newpaper today that the left wants the Government to intervene and stop the senseless rise of the Sensex. My first reaction was to laugh. The reason was even funnier, "to prevent accumulation of huge wealth by a handful at the cost of pauperisation of the common man's hard-earned savings."

Then a cheeky thought crossed my mind. Could it be possible that parties like the Left may be thinking of whether they can regulate the number of times married couple make love in a month? The more I thought of it, the more I realized that these guys could actually do something to that effect. What more can you expect of a bunch of people who because they enjoy support of the electorate in two states do not bat an eyelid in holding the country to ranson on any issue that they think is not correct? It's as though God has been partial in the distribution of intelligence; you see only Left leaders have the capacity to think right, everyone else is a fool. Only the Leftists are patriots, the rest are traitors.

That is the sad plight of democracy in India. A party steeped in an ideology, communism, whose time has passed is trying to teach the country the meaning of Democracy, i.e., it's version of the meaning of Democracy. We are right, everyone else is wrong. If you agree with that, you are democratic in thought. If not, you are anti-secular, against democracy, and an anti national.

What more can you make of a people who do not think it is anti-national to humiliate the Country's Prime Minister in front of international audiences. If given a choice, I would end this coalition business.

I would enforce a strict two party system of rule at the center. Regional parties should be restricted within their regions. One can have regional parties forming governments at the state level, but they should have no say at the National level. That would enable Central governments to be more active and give them the room to implement policies, laws, and changes that will align with global norms.

The world is becoming an increasingly global village, and whether the Left likes it on not, India is an intergral part of the Global village. Change is the only constant in life, and those who do not move with the times get left behind. The sooner the Left understands this fact of life, the better it is for these parties and the Country at large. If they fail to do so, I think the time has come for the government to seek people's mandate to outlaw parties like the Left and throw them out of mainstream politics.