Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is human’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion. – Oscar Wilde
Whenever I read this and through whatever context I happen to arrive here; this thought of rebellion and disobedience puts me on the bridge of gender gap. I do not intend to write about this gender gap or the issues this arises but on the views that people impose being guided by the veil which indeed held true but in its own time.
If children of neanderthals had not rebelled and built houses we would still be nomads. If Copernicus and Galileo had not questioned about the position of earth, the seeds of imagining a baffling universe would have taken more centuries. It has always been rebellion that led nations to freedom. Then why do people on the older side of the bridge oppose this?
Few months back I had unknowingly and unintentionally taken up the habit of noticing people’s habits; both new and old. I do not know or have enough idea of the family lives of other countries to form an opinion but when I speak of India I want to speak loud,clear and ugly! Parents want to raise their children the way they were brought up. So? Is that wrong? No! The current old side of the generation gap is the one which experienced a post independence era; a time where they got what both the generations had wanted. The same taste of things. A closer look to this and we won’t find much of a difference in them, in their thought process or in thinking. But what of this generation? The one who came to know computers and internet. The one who has played video games plugged in televisions and in arcades. The one that has known the world faster than any of the generations before. The 80’s and the 90’s kid were bombarded with things which were not in the scope of imagination of their grandfathers. Children are curious by nature and they learn in this curiosity. This generation learned much more than before and more than that craved for the freedom of choices.
We believe we live in a free country and yet we are guided by the neanderthal thoughts of not speaking up our minds! This generation is, thank god, has access to so much of information that it is natural for them to question! This is the saddest and the most unfortunate part of my generation! They question religion, they are tagged “rebels”. They do not want to follow meaningless traditions and they are tagged “rebels”! What wrong did a child do if he asked the father in church about T-Rex living millions of years before? Of course the idea of arrival of man after 7 days of creating the world merely 6000 years ago would seem like a blabber. But this is a question of science and religion and we are not talking about that. We are talking about generations and the mistakes that go down the genes. History and particularly the history of religion should be dynamic; and tragically which remains the most unchanged across generations. I am no religion expert in-fact I am atheist and yet I understand that religion does not want you to do false prayers or light candles but to be “HUMANE” on the basic grounds. If we are taught wrong maybe in the most innocent of ways,it is the duty of this generation to right it and the previous generation to have the guts to glance at it’s possibilities.
So far so good. We rebel. We dress the way we like. We ink ourselves. We let go the illusion of only good studies equals good future. We people know the value of hard-work and we do toil but for our own freedom and every single person has the right to undergo that! There should be absolutely nothing to guard that, be it physical, mental, emotional or psychological! I am not implying that being a rebel you abandon your family or people who love and care for you, instead I want everyone to look for the choices that this generation is making and then guide them not by their own perceptions but by their sound judgement accumulated over the years which is free from both the selfish desire to keep their children virtually safe or of the command that is running down giving authority of one person over another.
The world has changed and it will continue to do so. What amazes us today would be mundane tomorrow and the biggest teaching one can offer to the yet to come generation is to actually make them understand the true values. Humanity, kindness, honesty, love, friendship and most importantly to do the right thing. The definition of right keeps changing too and it is always in the hands and the hearts of the current generation to watch and weigh what ought to be done! After all, they are indeed brought up well..
Every great story that we read and make the children read is about rebellion, about what’s right! So in what state of mind are the outdated ideas imposed on us! They tell us to grow up, be independent and take our own decisions but when its actually time to do so; its the imposing process all over again. As long as the habits of one person are not harming the other or the society in a physical, mental or “MORAL” way it is “RIGHT”.
The same person whom I quoted earlier has said something else. “Morality like art means drawing a line somewhere”. So where do we draw the line? We in our generation are demanding and fighting for what we think is right and fair. But few years down the line there would be another set of curious heads, questioning and rebelling. How will we address them? Will we be wise enough to guide them and accept the changes that ought to be done? And how will we arrive at our judgement if our own opinions and flexibility for the right change are misty? There would be many opinions. When I think, if the values, the true values are laid as foundations of the character of a child, there would be no questioning or rebellion against the right but only for what ought to be right.
Originally posted on Blogger on Jun 15, 2014