As I sit in the comfort of my room writing this blog, I wonder if I am lucky to have all of this. All throughout my 21 years (or at least for the last decade) I have wondered why I couldn’t have the things that I liked (e-gadgets, sports goods, etc. and the usual stuff that any teenager craves for). I envied those who had them and despised myself for the lack of these “luxuries”. All my demands which were not met made me angry and frustrated. I was angry at my parents for not buying me those things and frustrated for not having the freedom to buy them myself. My parents have provided me with the best possible facilities that they could have provided. But I always wondered why I couldn’t have more.
Maybe this happens to all of us. Maybe everyone is swayed by the excitement and the fun of these luxuries. And maybe there is no real problem in craving for these things. But there is a larger issue at hand here. We are not kids anymore who will be swayed by such glamorous things.
We always envy those above us in the financial ladder (if not explicitly but sometimes in our hearts) and all we can do is frown upon those below us. This might be because we (not our parents) have not risen from those bottom levels and reached at this position. We were given these comforts from the start and we have learned to accept them as part and parcel of our lives.
Some may argue that our parents have worked hard for it and they don’t want their kids to go through what they have seen and been through. They just want to provide a nice environment for their kids to grow up and they want to fulfil all their wishes which they couldn’t fulfil for themselves. I completely agree with this if the kids understand how much their parents have sacrificed for them. Have we ever tried to imagine the hardships that our parents have gone through for us?
In a country like India where a large chunk of the population lives in rural areas, which are devoid of basic amenities like electricity and drinking water, and where kids of our age or younger are dying of hunger and their parents are helpless about it. I just want to convey to the kids of our generation and those of the forthcoming generations should understand the value of their parents hard earned money, spend it judiciously and not squander it away. We should be thankful each day of our life for getting two square meals a day.
Never during the last 21 years did I ever realise that there might be kid just some km’s away from me who might be in dire straits just because he has not had proper food for the last couple of days and is wondering (and in his little heart wishing for the best) whether his father has been able to earn enough for the family to decent meal after a week. In his little heart this kid is also angry with his parents. But the reasons are completely different as compared to mine. He is angry and frustrated at being born to parents who are not able to provide him proper food. He is envious of the rich kids who get everything they want. But the need of the boy is food (a basic necessity for life) as compared to mine of e-gadgets (hardly a necessity for life).
Have we ever thought about this kid when we go out for shopping and munch on chocolates, ice creams and burgers and purchase any of those unnecessary necessities that we have created for ourselves? Do we give the slightest thought to this kid and his family when we throw away a half used bottle of water or a half eaten burger?
I am not here to preach or to tell anyone on how to live their lives. I just want everyone to realise how blessed we are and what we could have been.
Another question that may arise here is: What should we do, it is not our fault that we are being provided these luxuries and we obviously cannot say no them.
My answer to this is that yes, no one will want to say no these things, but what we can do is to abstain from ostentation. In short, my mantra for achieving this is a simple four letter word.
K.I.S.S.
KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID
P.S.: For those of you who do not me I am not a social activist nor am I a politician (Thank God for that). I am just a kid who has realised that whatever I have is more than enough and whatever I need will never be enough.
Maybe this happens to all of us. Maybe everyone is swayed by the excitement and the fun of these luxuries. And maybe there is no real problem in craving for these things. But there is a larger issue at hand here. We are not kids anymore who will be swayed by such glamorous things.
We always envy those above us in the financial ladder (if not explicitly but sometimes in our hearts) and all we can do is frown upon those below us. This might be because we (not our parents) have not risen from those bottom levels and reached at this position. We were given these comforts from the start and we have learned to accept them as part and parcel of our lives.
Some may argue that our parents have worked hard for it and they don’t want their kids to go through what they have seen and been through. They just want to provide a nice environment for their kids to grow up and they want to fulfil all their wishes which they couldn’t fulfil for themselves. I completely agree with this if the kids understand how much their parents have sacrificed for them. Have we ever tried to imagine the hardships that our parents have gone through for us?
In a country like India where a large chunk of the population lives in rural areas, which are devoid of basic amenities like electricity and drinking water, and where kids of our age or younger are dying of hunger and their parents are helpless about it. I just want to convey to the kids of our generation and those of the forthcoming generations should understand the value of their parents hard earned money, spend it judiciously and not squander it away. We should be thankful each day of our life for getting two square meals a day.
Never during the last 21 years did I ever realise that there might be kid just some km’s away from me who might be in dire straits just because he has not had proper food for the last couple of days and is wondering (and in his little heart wishing for the best) whether his father has been able to earn enough for the family to decent meal after a week. In his little heart this kid is also angry with his parents. But the reasons are completely different as compared to mine. He is angry and frustrated at being born to parents who are not able to provide him proper food. He is envious of the rich kids who get everything they want. But the need of the boy is food (a basic necessity for life) as compared to mine of e-gadgets (hardly a necessity for life).
Have we ever thought about this kid when we go out for shopping and munch on chocolates, ice creams and burgers and purchase any of those unnecessary necessities that we have created for ourselves? Do we give the slightest thought to this kid and his family when we throw away a half used bottle of water or a half eaten burger?
I am not here to preach or to tell anyone on how to live their lives. I just want everyone to realise how blessed we are and what we could have been.
Another question that may arise here is: What should we do, it is not our fault that we are being provided these luxuries and we obviously cannot say no them.
My answer to this is that yes, no one will want to say no these things, but what we can do is to abstain from ostentation. In short, my mantra for achieving this is a simple four letter word.
K.I.S.S.
KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID
P.S.: For those of you who do not me I am not a social activist nor am I a politician (Thank God for that). I am just a kid who has realised that whatever I have is more than enough and whatever I need will never be enough.
hey dat was some food for thought...naked truth dat stares in our eye...always wished dat people looked around at others who are less fortunate than them just to realise how fortunate they have been...Peace of mind is ur right and not anybody else's monopoly...well written would have loved more intricate details but yet no taking away from the thought...cheers!!! keep writing!!!!
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