The Society
What is society? Or rather who is society? And is society or rather the actions in the name of society, making our lives better or worse? That girl who got married unwillingly in the name of society and now suffers from physical violence. Who can she blame? Herself — for not taking a stand, her parents — for whose happiness she decided to get married, or the society — who taught her parents to be happy when the daughter marries according to them. Mothers say that you don’t understand you will be happy once you have a kid, you don’t know what you want. Where is the conviction of someone else knowing what would make me happy coming from?
Daily, we take so many decisions in the name of society. You can’t get married to the person you love. Why? — Because, well, society doesn’t approve. You are 30 and not have a stable income. Suddenly, you are an irresponsible outcast, detrimental to the society. You want your kids to learn more from experience but can’t because well how will the society react to you not enrolling your kids to conventional schooling. Cowardly as we are, we don’t dare break the bonds that society has imposed.
We take so many actions in the name of society. Make so many sacrifices in the name of society. Even though our heart knows what is best for us. We think that the masses know better and kill those voices. Think about it — you get married to someone as society prescribed, you have children even when you are not ready again as prescribed, you keep putting those hours in a job you don’t love or relate to. At the end of the day, are you happy? Are you content? Are you proud of your legacy?
Well, have we ever thought who is society, asking so much of us? And what do we get in return? And we can say that a person with integrity doesn’t care about society but is that it. Is that where the fight ends? I say not.!
The curse of society rises when the norms that have been set in a time when things were different do not hold true in the current state. What was once is not now? So, the societal norms of the past are not fit for today and won’t attain the same purpose. We have evolved, times have evolved and the society and its norms have not kept up. The norms today are lynching our thoughts, our wishes, our happiness and our freedom.
Nobody has time to think; nobody has time to act. People are struggling enough to keep up with their day to day given the fierce environment that we have slowly created for ourselves. But wouldn’t it be nice, if everyone including the society accept us for who we are and support us for who we want to be. The onus is on us to change the pace at which the societal norms are changing.
If you ever loved someone and sacrificed in the name of society — well, change it by actively supporting couples of the day. If you ever had a dream which was crushed in the name of society — support that crazy neighbour who wants to start her own company. Times have changed. Let us change the rules. Let us make a society where we keep up with the changes of the time. So that we create a more empathetic world going forward. A world where we care rather than just demand. Where that crazy neighbour doesn’t have to feel so alone. Let us bring back empathy. In the end, it will give us all a better, more loved place to be in. Wouldn’t you love to live in that world, think about it!!