The frustrations of life!!!
-By Dr Gaurav Agnihotri
I do keep urging my son to focus on his grades. I expect him to be an all rounder but not at the cost of losing A grade for activities like cooking, gardening and learning household chores!!!
Is our educational setup educating? We, the products of education, fear the impending rat race and this is a huge frustration of life. Another frustration of life is the inverse relation between age and money. When one is born without a silver spoon, by the time money ushers in via hard work, age sets in and one often ends up spending on education of children or personal/family health bills. Still, others leave a lot of money in the bank and the nominee is often unaware because of obvious reasons.
There is definitely a problem with our system and our mindset. This creates frustrations. The ‘Boss is always right mindset’ pays dividends. Then there is hierarchy. At the top are politicians with political compulsions. Often officers follow orders without logic because these are orders and higher ups pass these orders because they know they will not suffer. Our work set up is confounded with groupism, jealousy and favoritism. Also, often credit for work taken by higher ups in the system. Lack of credit for efforts leads to delusion and lowers the drive for work. Use and throw policy of administrators demoralizes the support staff who then avoid giving a hundred percent.
Another frustration in life is the hefty payments one needs to make for education and health. Unequal opportunities, nepotism and plagiarism often dislodge the boulder of idealism.
The burden of frustrations…
Where is the silver lining/hope? Introspection we are told is the ideal antidote but this practice is often defeated by ‘convenience’ and chalta hai attitude. ‘Zar’, ‘Joru’ and ‘Zameen’ have lead to illogical conflicts since time immemorial. Hope actually lies in the generation to follow and the individuals now parents should not enforce illogical shackles of tradition and duty. Wherever there is resistance and opposition the reason needs to be explored. We do not want the illogical requirements to weaken the resolve our our next generation. Small optimal efforts at home and in workspace should be encouraged. If we reward some good acts, maybe they can be inculcated.
The next generation is our hope. Encourage and appreciate their good work…
The educated need to initiate a change, but the educated are few and fewer are motivated. The frustrations of life are not easy to overcome because they are due to a system we blindly follow and this system has let us down.