Let’s Reset.. Please..
Born as a Xennial, I’ve witnessed at least several dozen examples of mankind’s evolution.. especially when it comes to digital transformation. As an early 1980’s kid, I remember the transition from landlines to cell phones. Reminiscing about those whizzing modem sounds still cracks me up even though it makes me proud that I was around when internet was just born. We learned storing data on floppy disks first. We used joysticks for gaming. Our first emails ended with a hotmail.com or yahoo.com.
Last few decades have been phenomenal as technology did wonders in healthcare, finance, retail, travel, and whatnot.. So much so that we are here today, addicted to using apps and gadgets for entertainment and socialization even when sitting right next to another human being. Those who don’t have social media identities are almost shamed for lacking a (pseudo) social life. Or, maybe it is our own projection of Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO).
We got so busy in this rat race that we forgot about climate change until the wildfires in the Amazon rainforests called our attention. Rising temperatures and sea levels, droughts, and floods are all similar examples. Hurricane Maria in 2017 caused 70 times more damage in Puerto Rico than was originally estimated. In 2019, the Polar Vortex froze Chicago to temperatures colder than the North Pole. We never considered a pandemic could be looming right around the corner until Coronavirus (COVID-19) turned the world over in 2020.
Meanwhile, our prejudices around racism, religion, and gender discrimination continued to get the best of us. George Floyd’s senseless killing is yet another reminder that the most intelligent species on earth is shackled by psychological barriers more than any others. Social injustice and discrimination still prevail in our world even after slavery was abolished over a century ago. As recent as in 2018, United States peaked on its hate crimes in over 16 years. Thirty-six thousand Americans are killed by guns each year — an average of 100 per day.
Immigrant woes intensify with the current administration in the US. Sometimes it feels like the American dream, which I strongly associate with New York, has been jinxed. Recent images of deserted Manhattan streets and subways due to (the outbreak induced) stay-at-home orders have almost reinforced my bizzare thoughts.
While my mind was still trying to fathom these grim (and maybe unrelated) realities, the pandemonium was suddenly aggravated by Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide. He was a very talented and successful Bollywood actor who killed himself at 34. Why? Why did successful celebrities like Robin Williams, Anthony Bourdain, and Kate Spade decide to end their lives vs. their pain? Why could we not save them? Why did we not help them? Why is depression still stigmatized? Why can’t we heal mental illnesses as easily as we’d like?
We need to question our mental health, which for most people across the globe, is still reeling with the physical, emotional, social, and financial aspects of living with the pandemic. To top it all, there’s just so much bad news around. It’s almost as if our resilience is being tested everyday. What can we do to survive with so much negativity around?
As a strong believer in the Karma Theory, I believe what goes around, comes around. Mankind has made some astounding discoveries and inventions over time. From walking over the moon to driverless cars to smart cities to genetic fortune telling.. The world is (y)our oyster! As we paced on this journey, maybe we got so greedy and pompous, we got narcissistic with our grandiosity. We forgot that all the chaos we are seeing today is perhaps caused by our own selfishness. In our power struggle, we chose to disregard our ecosystem. But, nature finds its ways to bring back the balance — natural catastrophes, contagion are only a couple examples. In its full glory, natural calamities are mighty enough to annihilate the human race.
Isn’t this wake up call enough that we need to pause, reflect, and make amends? NOW. Maybe a little more grace and gratitude are all we need to start with. A tad bit more compassion and humility could help. Maybe use a sliver of (the innate) humanism we were all born with. An extra ounce of awareness of the effects of our own actions. Toward each other and toward our environment.
