Sunday, August 1, 2010

Oblivious of the Obvious


There are certain things that evolve without our direct involvement, though passively all of us are involved in it. Evolution of mankind is an integration of evolution of every individual—united we stand and divided we fall…..another extrapolation of the ‘collective fate’! While some evolutions are directly dependent on us, ‘We, the people’.

“Revolutions are a product of an en masse and simultaneous evolution of the thought process in human-beings.”
That is to say when this collective evolution is evaluated we get at a revolution; at least that is how the definition of ‘revolution’ has ‘evolved’ to me!

For these evolutions to take place, the intent has to be there. And this is only possible if we are open to the fact that we are not above evolution—in our thoughts as well as actions. Better termed as ‘behavioural changes’ that need to be brought about for our betterment as individuals.

While the faults of others is ‘compellingly obvious’ to us we are quite ‘conveniently oblivious’ of our own faults and hence for the need of rectification is not felt. And when we are impelled to ‘see’ those faults of ours we justify those as ‘human errors’—‘to err is human’. True, to err is human. And this as a corollary proves the existence of faults within us.

But unfortunately we tend to be ‘obviously oblivious’ of our shortcomings. One such glaring example is our being oblivious to things that are obvious. We rather tend to neglect the issues that are obvious and need reprisal—simply because they are obvious? We take for granted—our situation(s), our near and dear ones, friends and people in general who rally around us, no matter what. Instead of appreciating, when appreciation is the need of the hour we behave as, “There is nothing to rejoice about it. I am in this situation because I deserve it. I owe this satisfaction & success to none but to one and that is me.”

And when some opposition to unsavoury incidents is called for we prefer to be indifferent so long it doesn’t affect us. In today’s world of consumerism the overpowering thought working behind this indifference is, “Why should I risk my PR for some body else.” Though I know it would be wrong to generalize but still, as I feel, “Frequent occurrences of coincidences lead to generalisation”. And I too am not immune to such behaviour, as we worry too much about consequences—PR or otherwise (trying to save one’s skin, so to say) notwithstanding.

Whatever be the reason for relegating ‘the obvious’ to ‘oblivion’, it gets extrapolated to negligence and disrespect of our blessings. Don’t we need to introspect what we would have been, devoid of what we have—the people and the environment, instead of clamouring for what we don’t have? How can we be so sure that what we don’t have would have made us happier by its presence? So sure of ‘the uncertain’ that ‘the certain’ becomes insignificant—that too in this life full of uncertainties?

It would be better to spare some thought(s) on the probable consequences of the ‘absence’ of the ‘presence’, which grace our life in the present—nothing short of a ‘present’, a gift.

It really is a demonstration of Newton’s 3rd Law, albeit by extrapolation. In trying to push the obvious—the reality, to oblivion, we are gradually becoming oblivious of the obvious and drifting far from reality to an era of super-ficiality and that is the reality.