‘Hey, You’ the “change”

     There are many days, when I had thought about India. Like ‘Why is our country like this?’, ’If the politics will always be like this?’, ‘Will it change?’ this and that, so on. At last if I draw into a conclusion such as ’Change is within us’, then the question arises ‘If the change within me is enough? Is it enough for the whole society? Will it bring freedom, the freedom from corruption, exploitation?’ my gut feel said ‘No’. Here is an example, “I am a resident in a so and so city, and my street is dreaded with garbage. I threw my house’s waste in the street, so like my neighbors. I have a child and he is affected by cholera. I admit him in the hospital and now, he is alright. But, the doctor advises me to keep my surroundings clean. Because of that, I stop myself from throwing the wastes in the street and put it in the garbage can. Even now, the street is filthy and dirty, then, I force my neighbors to stop throwing wastes in the street. In due course of time, they agree and the street is now clean. And yet, it hadn’t ended, the garbage can overflowed with wastes. I and my neighbors called the concerned authority, but they didn’t respond to us in the right manner. So, we complained about it in the higher authority, corrupt as much as the former they also didn’t gave an appropriate answer. Rather than wasting our time in complaining, we decided to clean our street on our own”. If you demand to change something, change it by yourself. If you couldn’t, stand behind the one who could do it. And, you can’t be sure of him. The change can change him, so be the one like an armed man who guards a suspect or be the friend who slaps his friend on his sin. After all, it’s better if its’ you who brought the change. A good leader must create a society which will pinpoint a mistake even if it is 'his'.

                                                                - Alan Giftson

Criticism criticized

Who taught the man to criticize others? Maybe, maybe our ancestors who brought the inevitable dream of evolution come true. Maybe not. Our ancestral mind might think that it isn't a big thing.

An eight year old boy tries to climb a tree and he falls down. He tries again and again to just get hurt. A teenager looks at the boy, instead of encouraging or warning or walking away silently, he criticizes him before his friends. ‘You are never going to climb that, kiddo’ he says. Unable to withhold the criticism the boy forces himself vigorously up the tree. In an impulse of rage, he loses his balance and fells into the ground. The teenager shocked by the fall, being the elder brother of the boy, takes the boy to the hospital.

What did the teenager gained from the criticism? What did the elder brother gained from his criticism? Nothing. Nothing at all. Who in the world said that criticism is good? Going deep into criticism, it’s about the past, its’ always about the past. Criticism hides behind the shadow of a work done. The people who criticize go unknown to the world as well.

Most of the people in the world, taste sweet in tongue and bitter in heart. That bitterness can be tasted sometimes, only sometimes, in the form of criticism. Criticizing is bitter; criticizing others in their absence is the bitter most. It would have been better if the people in this world would have followed the things said by their own idols. The things regarding love, compassion and peace.

‘Indeed, how criticisms are given and received goes a long way in determining how satisfied people are with their work, with those they work with, and with whom they are responsible’ as Daniel Goleman says in his book, ‘Emotional Intelligence’. It’s a pure matter of the people who rub elbows with you in work, whom you are responsible for and the satisfaction of the work.

There are three kind of positive approaches that can be shown towards a work done:

   · Praising- the act of supporting a work and following the method in the same way as the work is done.

   · Innovating- the act of feeling unsatisfied by a work and remodeling or rejuvenating the earlier work or making a new, more brilliant advanced work.

   · Walking away- the act of doing nothing as the work seems uninterested.

More interestingly, the world does the above things but in a different way. They praise the works which yields them profit, even though they didn’t like it or attain any interest on the work. People innovate the truth with lies. They spread rumors which fells nastily in the ears of the truth. And, people do another thing as well. They turn a deaf ear to the injustice around them. They walk away from their mere duty of being a human.

Criticism is just big as world’s mouth. Criticizing criticism is also somewhat big. Rather than just arguing it’s better to come to a conclusion. Criticize if you can make a better work than the criticized, this means that your are lowering or heightening your level to the level of the criticized. Asking our ancestors’ help, let’s hope to set a goal of improvement, and jump to the other branches of life than the frail branch of criticism.

                                                                                    - Alan Giftson