An acute crisis introduces a man with his real self and exposes him to the rancorous times ahead. For the sake of being liberal in what I say, it does the same to a woman 😛 . For centuries, human history has been sanctimonious in the way it has glorified pain and suffering, attributing them to heroes, all the way idolising them. But the recent generations seem to have shunned these attributes, recognising them as something undesirable or unfruitful. While this seems to have resulted out the generation’s desire to maintain high spirits through thick and thin, it has been misconstrued and rather identified with a ‘devil-may-care’ attitude. Such a perception towards life and the society on a greater part is not only inconsistent but fundamentally flawed.
While man was still a social animal the last time I checked, some portions of the present day youth seemed to have taken the ‘being peppy’ tag in the worst way possible. For them, it is no longer a personality trait but a way of life and that too in very extreme terms. People seem to have taken liberties by isolating themselves from the people close to them, doing away with obligations and responsibilities and alienating themselves from the society- all at the excuse of being ‘peaceful’ within themselves. I don’t think that Buddha had this in mind when he taught his disciples to do away with worldly misery because what they really have become is not ‘peaceful’ but ‘ noiseless’.
They seem to have lost the stimuli to react to the changes happening around them. This is peppy in a morally diminished and renderingly confounded sort of way and is a potential danger to myriads of men and women who take to such lifestyles in order to cope with the problems they face in the social milieu.
While being lively and strong hearted in the face of disasters is a good thing, it should not steal away the one thing basic to human existence- empathy. A social animal in alienation to its society is, but, an animal. Not only this extreme case of it but little notions that people seem to be taking pride in- like being judgemental about traditional art forms, showing utter disregard towards their history and a denial of their true place in the milieu are all signs of this rotten identity. An inclination to reduce solid, hefty work to mere scraps and instead preferring a peppy one-liner as a substitute can be inauthentic and even disingenuous, marking a soft change to the ‘dark side’ of things.
While this post may talk too critically of the point and people in question, it is still imperative to consider the possible ramifications of such unattended attitudes in the future. To find the good in bad, Yes they may bring smiles to others but we can’t let them turn into rocks for some laughs.