"Ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"... so said JFK(if my memory serves me right)some 45 years ago... I get the feeling that this phrase is more relevant these days to us - " the Gen Next " Indians...
One think that I do often as well as millions of other people is COMPLAIN... complain about the state of the roads,the water supply,electricity,poverty and a whole range of other issues... India is a country with diversity in culture as well as people.... but, no matter what the diversity, the one thing that is common to all of us is that we "complain"... no matter how much we did complain all this while, you would have seen that the condition of the road that leads up to your house has not improved, or it would have improved only to get damaged by the rains in a few months...
What is required....? ACTION..... ok..... action is required,agreed.... Who is responsible for initiating the action....? it's US.....the so called "Gen Next" of India.... What are the things that WE can do to make sure that we have less things to complain about...? each one of us will have our own ideas and it's all good.... the best way is for people who are well educated(not a must) and who are really concerned about our country(a must) to take up positions of responsibilty in the public domain...
If you are like me, a person who feels that I am not cut out for this, there are loads of other small things that we can do in our own little way for our country... There is no need for all of us to be like The Mahatma... We can just carry on with our lives the way we are doing now... no need for any drastic changes.... just the commitment to do what we can for the betterment of our country is enough... like Bono said during the Live 8 concert in London last year just before he started with the song "One",....."We cannot fix every problem, but the one's we can, we must"....
The main problem that I feel that India is facing is poverty... poverty begets poverty.... what is needed here is hope.... the people who are below the poverty line should not lose hope that the next generation will not have to face the hardships that they faced... while they continue to toil, they must make sure that their sons and daughters get atleast the basic education... What is our responsibilty towards this...? We all have maids working at our places,drivers,etc... it is possible for us to support the education of their children... we can take care of their schooling by paying their fees,etc... this is an effective way to make sure that they receive education, as the main reason for the children of the people who are below the poverty line not receiving education is that the parents feel that they cannot afford it and it's just not worth it.... The maid who has been workin for us since I was born lost her husband long back.... You would thing that her child(she had a single daughter) had no chance of doing anything better that what her mom was doing.... I am proud to say that she is now a B.Com graduate and just started working in a private company.... the combination of "Hope and Education" leads to funny things.... (The TV serial "Hope and Faith" is also quite funny....but that's a different issue...!)
Another thing that I feel that we can do is never to forget about India... Most of my friends have left/will be leaving abroad to further their education....that's great....I'm really happy for them.... But what I'm not a fan of is of the people who once they go there act as if they have never heard of India....By all means pursue your education there...If you decide to return back home once you finish your studies,it's great...otherewise,even if you want to stay there,do stay...there is nothing wrong...just dont forget about a place you used to call "home"... never forget that even though you maybe thousands of miles away, you are still responsible to your country....
Each one of us will have our own way of doing things...our own way of fulfilling our responsibilties... just remember , "We cannot fix every problem, but the one's we can, we must."
1 comment:
Its nice that one of my friend comes out with a nice thought which would really make our nation strong. i would say that if we want to sponsor the education of some children, i insist that we can sponsor 75% of their education cost and let them earn the rest 25%(so that they'll know the value of their's or their child's education, time, money,etc.,). Also get the promise from them that they'll sponsor to someone else when they are in that situation so that the tree grows...
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