CRISIS

CRISIS

 

Everything appears shrouded in mystery if we try to look at what is happening. Is it that we have no solution or salvation? What causes this fear in me is not too clear to me since most things do not appear to be in any order, leaving much to be desired. At times I come under the feeling that, persons of my mental make-up cannot hope to ‘catch’ with the present trends where the priority appears to be for convenience and an attitude that, end can justify the means. It is not as if the society is full of errant ones. But, it looks that, erroneous concepts, diluted values and an uncalled for urgency in life are dominant. What could be the reason? Honestly I have no clues. But, I am able to observe a ‘shift’ in values. I am aware that values are what a person cherishes and that they cannot be imposed on any one. But, there can be no two opinions on the ‘value’ of what is good and what is not. So long as an item of value is widely applicable to the society at large, it enjoys the value of a value.  Considered from this plane, items that condition our general attitudes of safety, controlled pace of systematic approach to ascension, acquiring the right qualities through education, nurturing our traditions have been mostly relegated to insignificance. People go by what popular notions portray, instead of judging the validity of notions. In all acts of daily life there is a ‘jump in to the bandwagon’ approach. On an occasion, I suggested that ‘conditioned thinking’ is a malady. The very process of conditioned thinking arises from the attitude of accepting notions. It is not my contention that all popular views are bad. My suggestion of ‘conditioned thinking’ as a bad trait is more applicable to sudden patronage to products or proposals leading to wealth acquisition through financial deals and strategies of share market deals. My viewpoint at this juncture may appear odd, since the planes from which one reads the ‘value system’ is bound to murk the clarity of issues even to the point of accepting an issue as issue. There is so much of subjectivity in the approach that the risk of the very ‘value system’ looking irrelevant cannot be ruled out. This prospect can not deter our efforts of identifying the problems and the probable solutions thereof. Talking of crisis, it should be pointed out that, several elements need being considered and the reader is requested to consider the merits of the opinion as an effort to identify the lacunae in our general disposition to ways of living. Indeed it would be a tough task of ‘considering’ relevant issues while sustaining the merits of the ‘Value system’.

Hopefully, Divine grace blesses my effort of bringing together complex issues, without fatiguing the recipient.    

What constitutes a crisis?

Often crisis arises from inadequacy of our efforts at any stage. It may be from any event or a step that fails to help us to achieve the intended target by legally valid means leading us towards crisis. One can bring in a variety of items from our daily life to narrate the instances of crises. At the same time, I deem it less important to merely list the items. It would be more sensible to locate the reasons for such happenings. The entire exercise of analysis is complex in the sense that, there is a gap between the target, the effort and our equipping selves for ‘that’ attainment. In a way we are indirectly involved in the onset of a crisis of the type I am trying to portray. Effort and effect always faithfully follow like light and shadow respectively. Any shadow is as intense as the light casting it. The effort has to match the requirements of any desire, lest we should face a crisis. We do not bestow right attention on to ‘achieve’ what we desire, but, we nurture desire, irrespective of our abilities of ‘living up to’ requirements.

Zones of crises:

Literally every item of significance in our life can turn out to be a potential situation for a crisis. As hinted earlier, desire without the adequate skill or effort is the root cause for a failure. Failure generally fails to evoke logical introspection. It rather promotes a feeling of being ‘let down’ by others. Very rarely, ‘others’ can modify the course of events to bring about a shift in our fortunes. This attitude of looking for convenient excuses starts from early childhood. Pampering the child for trivial things must stop at around the age of 6 for a child. It is but natural that a child looks for ‘care, comfort and protection’ from parents. All parents desire all that is good for the child. In their eagerness to keep the child happy, they lose sight of the most fundamental requirement – the ability. That is why I suggest that pampering should stop around 6 years of age, to make the child recognize the need to acquire competence. Pampering spoils the mind leading to the belief that ‘support’ from home front can ‘work to our advantage’. At best this can help in ‘buying’ things like dress, eatables and small facilities like cycle or scooter. Extending this logic to higher levels, children and parents try to buy seats in profession study.

The student fails to recognize the need for ‘effort’ from self, because all through, his or her life has been built on some scaffolding and not on a foundation. Such lives are bound to crumble at the slightest jerk. Parents do have the moral responsibility of upbringing the child. Upbringing is a process where all steps must be attended to with the idea that future is being shaped for the child. Future does not stop with profession education. Instead of professionalizing the approaches to learning from school level, people set their eyes on professional courses. I began saying that crisis begins when efforts do not match the requirements for a target. That is evident from the way these boys and girls struggle to clear examinations at higher levels. Pampering is actually tampering the character and the mindset necessary for genuine achievement. The Darwinian principles of ‘struggle for existence and ‘survival of the fittest’ are guidelines fit to keep in mind always.       

To continue                                Prof. K. Raman