Posted by: jantare1 October 7, 2011
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Grgdai, I see what you are pointing at but I can't completely agree with you. Here's why:
"There is utter waste of resources in a country that lacks resources."
- It has been the same since ages so we can't just blame on religion, culture, and our old folks now. But,can something be done now that we are conscious about the resources going waste? Definitely!
"There is a culture of lavish show off, which cannot be good for anyone. Even ones without resources are supposed to do everything like they can afford it."
- I agree with this a little bit. Yes, people tend to be showy but do you really think our culture is the cause of that? I don't think so. I never learned how to be showy from our culture and traditions. If I am showy in any aspects, that will be because of my human nature. It's natural to try being different/superior than others. If you are talking about Dashain, expenses, Khasi katne, naya luga, gharma naya paint, etc, then those who try to show off although they can't afford are just foolish. Again, human nature to be better than others is the main cause behind that, not the culture. And hey, nobody is "supposed to do everything like they can afford it"; it all depends on what they want to do, not what we want them to do.
"What kind of backward culture is that which asks for this kind of commitment? "
- As i said earlier, nobody is asking for commitment, nobody is being forced to do something. It's all their spontaneous action.
"In the end it all boils down to religion and culture. Culture says this has to be done because of religious beliefs."
- This is where I disagree with you the mose. Religion is not forcing anyone to do anything. You might say that people are obliged to slaughter animals to show devotion to gods and goddessess but there are people who don't slaughter animals and are still worshipping gods and goddessess and are enjoying the festival equally if not more than those who slaughtered animals. Has anything bad happened to those who didn't offer animals and have those who sacrificed animals progressed much better than the ones who didn't sacrifice animals? I bet not. You can't just blame religion and culture for bad/unethical things people do. I'd rather blame them and their nature.
"The old generation are still visciously tied to the above culture of waste and show off. In order to move forward it is upto the new generation to refuse to practice such nonsense customs."
- Really? You think so? I think the opposite - the young generation is more showy than the old. Look around and compare an old man with a man in his 20s? Who is more showy? Who wants better things? Definitely the one in his 20s right? Now you might say, well the technology has made life much easier these days and things develop quick and it's natural to desire something better. But, do we really need all the best things in this world? Do we need a fancy iphone with all bells and whistles while a simple flip phone can call/text/browse web? And if you see the bank account of that person, he is in the situation where he needs fo borrow money from his friend to prevent overdraft. People in the past were much more content than we are now.
But you are right, we need to stop doing this! We need to keep materialism to its limit. Stop showing off and just be what you are.
"The grass root movement for change has to come from religious grounds by questioning religious practices. Only then we can amend the way we live our lives and stop doing the unnecessary things we do."
- Let me ask you a question: What do you mean by the unnecessary things we do? We do a lot of unnecessary things, don't we? Are they all related to religion? NO! So, blaming religion is not the solution. If you are talking about practices like accusing people of witchcraft, discrimination based on caste/religion, etc - yes they are related to religion and we need to grow up. But other things like showing off how rich you are by buying a big car although you don't need it, slaughtering a goat on Dashain by borrowing money, etc are dependent on an individual and you can't really blame religion for that. Hindu religion and culture is very rich, it's unique and the world had praised it. There are some malpractices within Hindu religion and culture and we definitely need to improve them but it's not wise to blame Nepal, Nepali, and it's culture and traditions for every stupid thing one does.
"There is utter waste of resources in a country that lacks resources."
- It has been the same since ages so we can't just blame on religion, culture, and our old folks now. But,can something be done now that we are conscious about the resources going waste? Definitely!
"There is a culture of lavish show off, which cannot be good for anyone. Even ones without resources are supposed to do everything like they can afford it."
- I agree with this a little bit. Yes, people tend to be showy but do you really think our culture is the cause of that? I don't think so. I never learned how to be showy from our culture and traditions. If I am showy in any aspects, that will be because of my human nature. It's natural to try being different/superior than others. If you are talking about Dashain, expenses, Khasi katne, naya luga, gharma naya paint, etc, then those who try to show off although they can't afford are just foolish. Again, human nature to be better than others is the main cause behind that, not the culture. And hey, nobody is "supposed to do everything like they can afford it"; it all depends on what they want to do, not what we want them to do.
"What kind of backward culture is that which asks for this kind of commitment? "
- As i said earlier, nobody is asking for commitment, nobody is being forced to do something. It's all their spontaneous action.
"In the end it all boils down to religion and culture. Culture says this has to be done because of religious beliefs."
- This is where I disagree with you the mose. Religion is not forcing anyone to do anything. You might say that people are obliged to slaughter animals to show devotion to gods and goddessess but there are people who don't slaughter animals and are still worshipping gods and goddessess and are enjoying the festival equally if not more than those who slaughtered animals. Has anything bad happened to those who didn't offer animals and have those who sacrificed animals progressed much better than the ones who didn't sacrifice animals? I bet not. You can't just blame religion and culture for bad/unethical things people do. I'd rather blame them and their nature.
"The old generation are still visciously tied to the above culture of waste and show off. In order to move forward it is upto the new generation to refuse to practice such nonsense customs."
- Really? You think so? I think the opposite - the young generation is more showy than the old. Look around and compare an old man with a man in his 20s? Who is more showy? Who wants better things? Definitely the one in his 20s right? Now you might say, well the technology has made life much easier these days and things develop quick and it's natural to desire something better. But, do we really need all the best things in this world? Do we need a fancy iphone with all bells and whistles while a simple flip phone can call/text/browse web? And if you see the bank account of that person, he is in the situation where he needs fo borrow money from his friend to prevent overdraft. People in the past were much more content than we are now.
But you are right, we need to stop doing this! We need to keep materialism to its limit. Stop showing off and just be what you are.
"The grass root movement for change has to come from religious grounds by questioning religious practices. Only then we can amend the way we live our lives and stop doing the unnecessary things we do."
- Let me ask you a question: What do you mean by the unnecessary things we do? We do a lot of unnecessary things, don't we? Are they all related to religion? NO! So, blaming religion is not the solution. If you are talking about practices like accusing people of witchcraft, discrimination based on caste/religion, etc - yes they are related to religion and we need to grow up. But other things like showing off how rich you are by buying a big car although you don't need it, slaughtering a goat on Dashain by borrowing money, etc are dependent on an individual and you can't really blame religion for that. Hindu religion and culture is very rich, it's unique and the world had praised it. There are some malpractices within Hindu religion and culture and we definitely need to improve them but it's not wise to blame Nepal, Nepali, and it's culture and traditions for every stupid thing one does.