Obedience was considered one of the most sought after virtues few decades back. Indians specially the women were considered to be most obedient of the lot. Whatever you tell, instruct and expect from them, they would obey diligently. Teachers and parents loved obedient students and wards. And then came the trend of asking questions and not following traditions, instructions and rules meticulously. Asking questions and not being obedient was fine, it did give birth to many innovative out of the box ideas which would have gotten suppressed earlier. This happened for the growth of the society and communities.
But in this process of emergence of creativity what got lost was discipline. I wonder why following rules and instructions has become so hard for us. It appears to be a national issue. I travel a lot for my work, and one thing I observe is, applicable to all age groups, standing in queues is most difficult act to follow. They want to arrive last but wish to be served first. A simple instruction, to switch off mobile phone, when flight is taking off, how can it be so hard to follow. Be it youngsters, middle aged or elderly each one of them is defying it blissfully. Complying and following traffic rules and signals seems like people are being punished. Even following decorum of lock down for their own health and safety had to be imposed on people.
Obedience is not looked upon as one of the great virtues anymore but in the course we also lost an extremely important life skill self-discipline. Not following this can create hazardous situations not for self but for others too.
We are evolving as a modern most technically advanced society but adapting this advancement to its optimal potential is yet to be learnt by the mankind. Great benefits come with greater responsibilities, with advent of all these modern technologies I wonder who is governing and monitoring, that these are being used sensibly and for the greater good rather than for personal benefits.
Life was hard but simpler earlier, whereas it has become easier but much complex now. I am trying to understand where did we go wrong? If advancing technically is the natural progression, losing important life skills and value system is it organic or will this prove to be toxic like other inorganic elements in the environment?
Indu Bhargava has almost 23 years of professional experience in the fields of training, counselling, education, journalism, and corporate
communications.
