Posted by: parakhidotcom February 26, 2012
Are we there yet? - II
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http://www.parakhi.com/blogs/2012/02/18/are-we-there-yet-ii


February 18, 2012 By: chiya-pasaley

I think as generations go by, our chronology gets denser and denser. Now we do more at the least amount of time, and it is highly likely that the trend will go on. Among other things, it means that we are now supposed to get to school a little earlier, every day, get a degree a little quicker, get a job (or whatever it is that one might want to do for a living) and get to "success", earlier than our fathers and mothers did. Because, the entry where it is marked "congratulations", in the time lines of our lives has been slowly edging closer and closer to the date of our births.

That said, isn't it also true that our lives have gotten longer? I find this gap frustrating. I am not advocating a lot more leisure than was available for the generation before us, but I firmly believe that we need to take a leak sometimes. I mean, what is the rush going to be worth, when at our deathbeds, we all go for that cliched flashback?

Technology has brought great changes in our lives. It soaks up cultures and life styles and makes them its own. As I am writing this I had to find a time slot between two loadshedding brackets and as unfortunately I have been only able to catch the last of it, I will have to find another tomorrow to email it.

There are no power cuts in the more developed world, the way there are here, but they need to schedule meetings in between conferences, lunches in between meetings and family in between everything all caused because of and also aided by smart phones, internet connectivity, applications, and all of other services and amenities on gets in the modern life. Which brings us back to the question that ended the previous paragraph.

It is true of course, that the death bed is there in the first place (as opposed to say the road, or a hard board structure) and it is soft to the bones, it has a neat pillow on it, because we had been able to stay on in the race of our lives. If we had missed out on the changing times, we would have been left out and probably under performed, or as the society sees it, "failed". My idea is that we should, within ourselves, and within the larger community, change the definition of what it means to "under perform". 

I think it needs to be a conscious decision, now, in society's part to reflect on what is happening, where we are headed and what it is all for? Without it, we could all be running like a terrified mob, never knowing that we had been part of it, or what is it exactly that we are running from. 

 
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