We live in queer times. A spate of student suicides and the media is quick to blame reality shows and their ilk for creating pressure on young minds. Interestingly enough, no one asked how a 11 year old child can even contemplate the thought of “taking their own life”. At the age of 11, comprehending the concept of life, death and suicide does take a bit of leap. Take a straw poll of kids around you and check if they do understand suicide. I’d be surprised at the results. Blaming the parents is also easy. But, think about this for a moment – the parent wants the kid to have a life better than their own and, strives to make them competitive. Which brings up the concept of rat race 🙂 – where irrespective of whether you win or lose you are still a rat.
Sometimes I completely fail to fathom the brains behind the powerhouse TV channels in the country. When I was young, the folks who wrote or, worked for newspapers were thought to be sensible and sensitive beings – they thought about using words and choose their sentences with much care. In the age of micro-blogs, breaking news and, instant coverage of events 24×7 everything seems to boil down to crisp and cliched sound-bites compressed into slots between unending advertisements.
The other part that bothers me is the sheer casual approach of the newer generation. Perhaps I am a grumpy old man but I’d like to see people behave with much more responsibility and appreciate their place in the scheme of things. Of late I notice this sense of “entitlement” creeping in creating an air of casual disdain. That annoys me and, bothers me to attempt to figure out why it should be so. Why should “earning your place in the sun” be replaced by a feeling of “I am entitled to be in the sun” ? I have to confess that I have figured out the easy answers. And, the actual answer isn’t there at all.
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