Unabashedly. Really.
We were raised to be doomed. We were bound to be ordinary. Above all, we were trained to be nothing. Believe me.
As I continue to ‘live’ in my quarter life period, I don’t know if it is too soon to realize this or just too late. But, I am happy to know it. Or am I truly?
So, I come from a generation that grew up at the wrong time and the boom of internet and technology just made it worse. And yes, this is coming from a technology nerd. Before I could get into the position to develop any intelligence and brains, I discovered how interactive games are cool and I should just spend time aimlessly playing it. Who gives a shit about learning and grooming yourself? That stuff is secondary. And automatically, our lives, our journeys, got manifested into this huge meaningless board game, without us even realizing it. We started leading our lives like the horses running over the racecourse. We think we have purpose, but do we really?
We wanted things, we needed stuff and we all aspired to win and be ‘cool’. And I don’t even know who decided who and what needs to be cool. But, before we knew it, our childhood was brainwashed to pursue meaningless and pointless activities, instead of achieving anything tangible.
And isn’t this how the society drove us to be? Like, we were convinced to watch shows and movies celebrating actors and entertainers. We made crappy shows like The Bachelor and Big Brother so popular that their progeny haunt or ‘entertain’ us now. We made the brainless Kardashians famous and rich. I don’t need to describe how this reflects upon us. We don’t know who attained Nobel prizes for science or literature or identify the people behind a successful experiment or a life-saving drug, but we know who won the Oscars or who became a WrestleMania champion. Aren’t our priorities screwed up?
We set the wrong and overt rules for fame and success. Moreover, we were fed to worship it and run after money. We were programmed to chase all of it and not stop at anything less. This fucked up our lives for the worse. Because all our goals, dreams and ambitions coincided to achieve that, to be eminent and affluent. Nothing short of that. Our society has put success and money to be in such a pedestal that we all have felt like a failure whenever life wrapped something in variant to what we wanted. Our society glorified the pinnacle so ornately but, never really acknowledged or shed any light on the journey. And our blind minds went on with that assumption. Our society, in order to laud somebody, lionized them to such an extent that everybody wanted to be them. Nothing other than them. And this is what caused people to be unhappy with life, to showcase anxiety and deal with depression.
In true sense.
As time went and high school happened, internet came in and hit lives like a hurricane. The likes of Orkut and Facebook imbibed how life sucks if you are not social. How you are integrally wrong if you are not social. This amplified exponentially with Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter joining the scene. And essentially, it screwed up what ‘social’ truly is. Half of our world is either battling with social media addiction, spending hours on end scrolling over inane feeds and stories, and the other half sports social media anxiety, feeling the botched up emotion that everyone else is at a better place than them.
Additionally, instead of bringing people closer, it feels like social media has brought us apart. There are so many news events and everybody has endless opinions broadcasted over it that it has become easier to hate people based on it and express that hate over the internet. We are led to prejudice, make judgments, pronounce it to the world and circulate these ill sentiments because we want to get out there and be seen and noticed. It is like a vicious circle where a news is made, perceptions about it are publicized, there are views revolting those perceptions and there is news to cover this revolt. And this phenomenon has metamorphosed to be the crux of the divided world we are living in.
Yeah, in very basic terms, we are living a fucked up life. Or just existence maybe. We think it is meaningful, but it’s actually, really hollow. We have grown up to be a confused bunch of people who are swayed with trends rather than reason, who are driven by money more than passion, who love the destination compared to the journey, and who want so many things as against to what they truly need. We’ve forgot how it is to love. We’ve lost our grasp of compassion and empathy. And we overlook our basic obligation towards humanity.
And yes, I blame the society for it. Because that is what we witnessed. This is what we were exposed to. And no wonder, this is what we imbibed.
Will the society stop fucking more? Probably not. I have a cynical-cum-practical stride to myself.
Is there any way out of this fuck-over? Maybe.
It is time I think to detach and free ourselves from this mess. If you realize how this society is creating disarray in your life, it is time to distance yourself from it. Get off that social media site that is bothering you. Move away from things or people that you see are bringing you down. Stop finding pleasures in exterior things and possessions, because that quest will never end well. Love, truly love things. Try to be selflessly kind. Be independent in thoughts and actions. And always look out for things that grow you more, educate you further.
Focus on yourself. Duly ask yourself. What gives you joy? What gives you happiness? Away from the societal norms and rules of proclivity. And pursue that. This will give your life more meaning than where you are right now.
Remind yourself that you have just one life, which is more about a journey than a specific destination. It always was. And whenever you see the societal chaos seep into yourself, hit pause and tell yourself that you are not meant to be fucked over. Simple.
Happy Reading! 🙂
My Boundless Thoughts 