A prey is an animal that is killed to be a food for another animal. A predator is one who kills other animals for its food. Food chain is a natural method to keep up ecological balance. I remember my class teacher Ms.Sheela teaching us in class 3. Darwin’s theory of evolution taught us about the “Natural selection”. Natural selection is the preservation of a functional advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild. Spencers coined the term “Survival of the fittest” in accordance to Darwin’s theory. For a few weeks now, the above statements flashed into my mind quite often. Why is this popping out all of a sudden? I asked myself.
I was standing in front of Baba whom I adore. A little boy was walking towards the idol with his parents. “Gautham, pray to Baba that you should get only first rank. I do not want even a second rank. I want you to get first rank. Keep this in your mind” the dad kept stating this to the little boy who was hardly 4 years old. “Amma, my friend Praneetha told me that we should not share our food or stationery. But you said I need to always share toys when Rithu comes. Why should I share?” questioned Harshu. “Amma, I like to become an art teacher. But my friend says we should become Engineers. Is becoming an art teacher bad?” many a times she has this doubt. What are we doing to our little kids? What are we imbibing into their minds? That they cannot survive if they study average? That they cannot live if they are not Engineers? That they cannot follow their dreams? That we should not share or help others in need?
“My little one – ready for the race” – the posts in FaceBook on kids first day school is killing me.
“Don’t talk openly. You cannot be transparent always. Especially at work. Else you will spoil the good will of others” even the grown up adults advice. When we as adults do not know to stand for ourselves, how are we going to teach our kids to stand up for themselves? Very common statement these days is “Learn to deal things smartly and politically!” Well, if one is termed as smart for his cunningness, what should I say?
We race against each other at work rather than racing with ourselves to get better. The cold war starts between colleagues who smile at each other. People say “I am open to discussions” but this is fake. Fear of getting penalized stops people to be true. Trust is something which cannot be found in the dictionaries. “I trust you and tell you my heartfelt feelings” is wrongly understood and often ridiculed. People don’t see each other as “flesh and blood with emotions” but just as a numb corpse. When it hurts them it really hurts, and when it hurts others, they are just enjoying! Power is no longer used to save the people or be by the people’s side but we still call ourselves a democracy. The handful few who try to be truthful and honest are ridiculed as ones from the Triassic or Jurassic era. Slowly this starts killing the social person within me!
Hard work has no respect. Smart work refers to short cuts and not the real smartness. You are supposed to smile at even your worst enemies. You are never open about what is right and wrong. You are never communicating with each other on what’s the gap between you. You never want to address an issue but only keep the flame burning within you and hit the one who never knew such a flame was between you. Each one wants to be a smart predator preying on others. “Don’t take it personally” is a disclaimer for those who want to hunt you down personally. Ridiculous!
Darwin’s theory of evolution stated more on the functional advantage. But what are we passing on to our offspring? Cunning nature, wicked thoughts, selfishness, jealousy, and enmity. We may have been hunting but let these genes get extinct within us. Let our kids not become predators in future!