Mrigank Das
I have two takeaways from 2017, a personal one and a general
observation… Let’s start with the general observation. I have seen that in our social media groups
there have been some outpourings of concern and vitriol towards supposedly
apathetic or even supposedly immoral leaders for various ailments that affect
various parts of the globe…the plight of Syrian kids in Aleppo, the state of the US Presidency and policies
towards healthcare, women’s rights, environment, frenzied and heated disagreements with policy
decisions in both India and US, the
state of the Indian Prime-Ministership, various decisions on demonetization,
bullet trains etc. In the US there has
been 83-ers jump on the pulpit to express
concerns about Libya, Cuba and other parts of the world going through
turmoil and great human misery and often accompanied by a lot of verbal
fusillade towards the sitting US President…
My response to all of that is shaped by a little book I
purchased in Mumbai airport written by a Swiss journalist that i have been
reading on and off over the last few weeks.
In order to have a ‘good life’ that is fun, happy and harmonious, and to
be able to smile and enjoy the company of friends and still ‘do good’ we have
to understand that unless we are Roosevelt, Churchill, MacArthur, Napoleon,
Alexander the Great, Akbar, Charlemagne, Churchill, Kennedy, Stalin or some
such persona with great resources at our command we are really just barking
incessantly without much bite…. And maybe, just maybe affecting our own health
and happiness. Rather what we need to do is pick a couple of charities and
donate some money with regularity… like the Red Cross, UNICEF, etc.
Let them do real
succour to the needy, instead of us getting on WhatsApp groups and waving our
arms with great pomposity but with real lack of stature, power or influence to
change things. That way we can feel good that our money is going to work. Now volunteering is good too… but unless you
are like Doc Sid or Doc Pan or Doc Sankalp you are unlikely to be of much help
to people in real need… they don’t really need techies or builders or engineers
or executives - even for building bridges you are better off making money in
what you are competent at and then sending the money through reputed charities
so the talented construction workers can rebuild what needs to be rebuilt, the
talented nurses can provide care to the afflicted etc.
This attitude has been anointed by legendary physics professor, popular speaker and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman, a Princeton PhD alumni and Caltech professor as 'Social Irresponsibility' .
It doesn't mean that we should not care what happens... it simply means we are not going to take the burden of guilt for sipping a latte in a Starbucks in Dallas while a young person in Syria is under great risk from lethal weaponry of various types; the reasons why there is conflict in certain parts of the globe is so very complex with numerous strands of historical, socio-economic and religious threads that a normal person like you and me can't resort to sweeping demagoguery or over-simplification of facts and pin it on the current leaders of certain nations.
This attitude has been anointed by legendary physics professor, popular speaker and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman, a Princeton PhD alumni and Caltech professor as 'Social Irresponsibility' .
It doesn't mean that we should not care what happens... it simply means we are not going to take the burden of guilt for sipping a latte in a Starbucks in Dallas while a young person in Syria is under great risk from lethal weaponry of various types; the reasons why there is conflict in certain parts of the globe is so very complex with numerous strands of historical, socio-economic and religious threads that a normal person like you and me can't resort to sweeping demagoguery or over-simplification of facts and pin it on the current leaders of certain nations.
The other takeaway I had in 2017 is the aspect of
competition. This was a bit more personal but maybe applicable to other people
with competitive streaks in them. Growing up I always viewed situations in
academics, at work and in other aspect of life as competition. I gotta fight
for top billing, can’t be satisfied with second-tier. However as the year went by and especially
towards the end I had some private interactions which led me to do a deep
revisiting of my belief system to compete every day. There are certain aspects of human life that
doesn’t lend itself well to competition… especially relationships with people
you love instinctively and feel a strong bond towards. It isn’t easy to break the habit. I am still
susceptible to a resurgence of those tendencies :) … but it has been by real
good fortune or maybe some other powers that be that have been extremely nice,
kind and great friends to me, counseled me patiently to get off my erstwhile
ruthlessness to look for weaknesses, recognize blunders and attack with
ferocity who or what I perceive as competition.
