Strange times are these. It’s a mad mad world that we are living in. Convincing people is at its hardest while offending people is at its easiest. To make matters worse, there are morons who say ‘No offence meant’ every time they mean an offence. As a thumb rule let it be stated that whenever you see ‘NOM’, rest assured that the content is obnoxiously offensive.
For a change, let me declare even before I start, that I mean offence. I am sick of listening to people cribbing about their jobs. I am sick of people who talk of their higher and better callings but do nothing about it. In a gathering of friends or family, discussing one’s work is a big turn-off, the only bigger turn-off being discussing how horrible one’s work is. Self-help books being something that I look upon with whole-hearted detest, I pray that this rant should not be categorized as any form of advice.
For a change, let me declare even before I start, that I mean offence. I am sick of listening to people cribbing about their jobs. I am sick of people who talk of their higher and better callings but do nothing about it. In a gathering of friends or family, discussing one’s work is a big turn-off, the only bigger turn-off being discussing how horrible one’s work is. Self-help books being something that I look upon with whole-hearted detest, I pray that this rant should not be categorized as any form of advice.
Most of us would want to fly a spacecraft or build a business empire worth billions or score a hundred hundreds or win a Booker prize or two. But these are things that are not easy to come by for most of us and we may never ever come close to any of these magnificent deeds. That’s the very reason that makes us aspire. Aspirations are great, but every now and then, the frustrations that rise out of unmet aspirations can be agonizing. Why can’t we realize that coding a computer program may well be something that limits our self-acclaimed creativity but it does give us a way of life that a majority of our brethren can only dream of? For a large chunk of our fellow beings, sitting in an air conditioned room is in itself worth a lifetime’s wait. Why can’t we realize that a nine to five or an eight to eight job for that matter is something that so many people less fortunate than us can only dream of.
To think lowly of any lawful means of earning our daily bread is as big a sign of inferiority complex as any. Striving for the improvement of our lot is the most humane of our characteristics, the caveat being that as a result of this we generally end up being eternally unhappy of our current position. All of us have three options: be contended with where we are or be unsatisfied with where we are and do something about it or be unhappy and unsatisfied with where we are and do nothing about it. I tend to choose the first option. I respect and admire the people who choose the second option and I detest people who choose the third option.
