Has Humanism Been Hijacked By Materialism ??

Has Humanism Been Hijacked By Materialism ??

Recent attack on Peshawar school , were hundreds of innocent school children’s died, has raised questions and doubts in mind. But these doubts are primarily not directed to Pakistan’s inability to take action against Taliban, but raise much more severe concerns regarding thinking of people on other side of the border.

Yes I am really concerned about the way people and friends in India are thinking and reacting about this issue. I myself have heard people saying that, “we give a damn to what happens to Pakistan and its people” and whatever happened, is all Pakistan’s fault. Guess somewhere humanity has lost its flavors and materialism has hijacked the emotions of people. Making them think, whatever happened in Peshawar, is Pakistan’s concern, and only they are responsible for the same. But no one shares the sorrow and grief of those families whose lives were attached to those children’s. What about the grief of a mother and a father and all those family members who lost their future.

One of my friends said about such messages circulating in social media, and I quote, “99% of the people who are sending messages about this will eventually cheat someone in business, and will be disrespectful to others, destroy mother earth, spread prejudice”. To be honest I was shocked, not for the wordings, but by gauging lack of concern about those who died in Peshawar. These friends of mine are young, and most brilliant thinkers, having achieved some degree of credibility in corporate sector, and there are many other friends of mine, who think in same line. Do we hate our neighbors’ to such an extent that even the loss of such innocents does not move our heart a bit? I have started to believe that, may be our hearts are not at right place.

Are we going to fall to such an extent that we trivialize such issues altogether, and when asked, compare the same with “Kashmir issue”? Yesterday it happened at Peshawar school, what if it happens at Maternity Hospital anywhere in the world. Can’t we just understand that Kashmir is another angle of terrorism and attacks like these, are more serious angle of terrorism. Should we not question the timing of these attacks with that of Malala’s honoring at Nobel Peace Prize.

But the bigger question is, whether we have lost all human feelings and drained all humanity out off our mind and body. Is Materialism the root cause of this drained Humanity? Has Materialism gained upper hand on Humanism? The indifference we are showing today towards the plight of these families, will it transcend our emotional quotient??  Or rather I say, has it already gone above our minds. Have we started ignoring plight of scores of people around us, troubled by various socio-eco-politico issues in their lives? Is showing sympathy towards loss of life, stupidity? Are these emotional messages floating across all social media USELESS. And should we leave the topic to rest, saying, expressing nothing. Should we not express concerns about our future? Does flow of emotion has no purpose to serve. Is showing sympathy on social media a way of creating an atmosphere, where we want to make feel other’s bad and petty, and want others to regard us as a good man.

We discuss cricket and football till late nights but don’t even bother to know, what happens to our neighbors next door. We don’t bother to give a beggar a penny, but ready to waste hundreds on watching a movie in a theater. We are ready to pay lakhs of rupees on our child’s education, but not teach them to differentiate between good and bad. Today our children’s are aware of brands more than what we know, but is it not the parents responsibility to make them understand its importance and value. We teach our child what money can buy, but we don’t teach them what’s its value, and how much efforts are put in to earn it. Today we teach our children’s how to be smart and get ahead of the line, but don’t bother to teach them to stand in line and follow rules. Today a newly born child is given a TAB –phone to play, so that he may not disturb us while watching our TV Serial programs.  Today we have lost all commitment towards our job, and are completely committed to all sort of corruption only to earn excess money. Our lust for earning money has reached so high, that we don’t even anticipate its consequences in future. To show the world that you are leaders in corporate world, we play all types of office politics and reach to such an extent that we don’t even bother, that due to our actions a person might lose his earnings. We have completely become self centric with only goal is of becoming King in our corporate life, on the behest of someone else’s life, and the height of it is that, our Peers and Social circle sees  us as a Hero.

I Guess this materialistic approach towards life has made us indifferent towards what is happening in our neighboring country and even the loss of those innocent children’s is seen from an insensitive angle.