Response-ability

It is an interesting platform, this blogging. I tend to share my views and connect with people who are on a similar line of business or at least with similar levels of thought process.

behaviorally, we as human beings tend to flock with similar minded people - for the simple sake of security from acceptance. Hence most of the times, when we blog, we want people to read and accept our thoughts and ideas and make us feel internally gratified.
the purpose might not be overtly so, but covertly, we all seek attention - the basic human nature.

But at times we need to draw a line for familiarity - as it breeds contempt - they so say.
So when you write or meet people, try to meet different folks. Meet people who are not at all from your line of work, your area of residence, or share your interests. That is when you let your mind imagine and wander and make it grow internally.

this prelude is for the very topic that this post is about
- Our ability to respond - that which makes us responsible

Our responses should not be of the familiar and predictable kind, our responses should be as varied as the situations we find ourselves in. But the mind seeks comfort in things oh so known and familiar that the threat perception of the unfamiliar is very high.
But the feeling of comfort also sedates us, makes us complacent and in most cases -reticent.

Take the case of the youth today in India. They have all got a varied approach to life, than what we had in our youth 18 years back. Our choices then were limited and so we were only limited to exploring those options.
Today the youth dares to be different. 'cos the avenues to be different are also as varied.
Hence the response ability of theirs is far different from what it would have been for us in a similar situation had we not grown with time.

But here comes the main point in this whole narration.
The system that we all live in, call it the lifestyle defined by governance, or social factors or whatever, makes us all able to respond to certain situations in the same way.
E.g. - if you are in a crowded bus, everyone would have the same response to the situation, in terms of adjusting to the packed sweaty smelly interiors, and dragging it out till you reach your destination.
Similarly, when you face a corrupt official, and if you are someone who is NOT the complacent kind, you would react differently to the act than someone who takes it for granted.

Point is, we are making some choices in those situations despite our ability to respond differently from other people.

- To not let the system take you for a ride is a choice you make
- To not let the system deprive you is a choice you make
- To deal with a situation pro-actively is a choice you make

So on and so forth, you get the drift - with response-ability also comes the big responsibility of making the 'right' choice to respond.


So to improve a nation at a bigger level, you have to do things at the smallest grass root level by being response-able, and by making a difficult choice; the more difficult the choice you and I make, the better the long term impact will be.

In the Bhagvat Gita, what has been interpreted as - work without any expectation of the nature of the result - has been often mis-represented and mis-used and mis-placed to act and think irresponsibly.

What we see today as the state of the nation is a result of this irresponsible interpretation of the Bhagvat Gita preaching about Karma.

To change things, we have - at our level and the next 2 generations of the 90s and 00s - have to make difficult choices - only when there is some positivity for the future, some light at the end of this tunnel that we are all inadvertently digging deeper and deeper into...

Our ability to respond with a choice is what will change things for us and slowly and painstakingly for others. The choice to connect with similar minded people is just an extension of this.