Believe it or not, but the problems of humanity are mounting. It is not a pessimistic outlook but sound realistic observation. While there is turmoil all around, mankind is not willing to read the writing on the wall. Temperatures increasing, oceans rising, and glaciers melting are just one part of the story. There are other seamier sides. Extremism in the name of religious and class conflicts, eyeball to eyeball confrontation at borders, readiness to fight wars and getting armed to the teeth, rich getting filthy rich and poor getting miserably poor, bacteria and microorganisms dodging humanity as medical science seeming helpless, are just some of the grim pointers to the portentous things staring at mankind from a not-so-distant future. As the super rich plan for the apocalypse, the lesser mortals are wringing their hands in desperation. You need not read Shakespeare to know why old men, fools and children calculate, why all these things change from their ordinance, their natures and pre-formed faculties to monstrous quality — why, you shall find that heaven hath infused them with these spirits to make them instruments of fear and warning unto some monstrous state.
Yes, the signs are ominous. But the reasons are not many. Just one that humanity is consuming beyond need. And this unbridled consumption is threatening this world to come apart at its seams. look what we have done to satisfy our insatiable greed. We are biting more than we can chew, eating more than we can digest, buying more than we can use. Maddening lust for more and more, far beyond our needs, and depriving the legitimate of their rightful due is what has brought the humanity at the end of its tether. Don’t believe itIJ Just taking a look at the colossal wastage of food in elite trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi would tell the story of the magnitude of wastage and the attitude of people towards resources of society. Yes, they may be paying for it but that does not give them a licence to abuse those resources over which society also has a stake. It is time this dichotomy between “my resource” and “society’s resource” ended. Ancient Indian philosophy was based on the premise of bahujanhitaya bahujansukhaya. Reckless and brazen exploitation of resources has brought us to this pass. It is time to realise that wasteful consumption is at the root of all our problems. The answer to the present day problems is modifying the human conduct for ethical consumption. In this era of vulgar consumerism, let a semblance of righteousness prevail. If we do not advocate sarve bhavantu sukhinah, we will ultimately reach the state of misery for all.
Where to make a beginning is the big question. Obviously, that has been the humanity’s main confusion. Waiting for a messiah to show us the way, to lead us. But rather than looking for the role model, there is need to be one’s own role model. Every morning, we look into the mirror to find out how good we look. It is time to change the way you look at yourself and ask what good have I done for society. That messiah is there in everybody. Only, there is a need to awaken him. Human beings were created to be the most supreme of the creatures. It is time to ask where we stand. And that time is now.
The writer is a professor of management and public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com