Days just kept getting longer, the chores interminable. Seventies in 2020. Missing conveniences I was so used to. Driving down to the grocery store has become a treat. Seeing real people other than family members a rare occurrence. Did we ever imagine that life was so fragile. One particular day, I was in this massive event, meeting hundreds of people, shaking hands with them, hugging them, making small talks with them, connecting with them and then two days later, there was complete lockdown. All public gatherings banned. The corona virus siege on the humankind.
It is the 2020. Today people can easily live a life without setting a foot into the outside world. In-fact some people have even experimented with this and gone on for months on end. Age of the Agoraphobics. You can google the meaning of the word without moving from where you are seated... remember those bulky dictionaries? They are things of the past. On my sofa there is a whole world. At my door step the whole world bows to me. With the press of a few buttons, I can have the furnitures, the electronics, the books, the files the parcels, the groceries, the fresh cooked food, whatever I need. The world is like a video game today.
I took the outside world so for granted, I had no idea that it meant anything to me. I mean I can always blog away my angst against the outside world and gain many cyber sympathies and hope that the targeted person would get the message. We lock our emotions in the digital space. Others, are just playthings. They are hot gossip, ridiculous, inspiring, unbelievable and outrageous on Facebook, WhatsApp, twitter and Instagram. And they are faceless if they are not on the Facebook. If they don't follow us on these they are not our friends, unless they have a fancy title to go with their names in Linked-in. To this world of strangers, COVID19 did not wreck much havoc. In-fact some of us are so relieved, we don't have to go out everyday to do the same work, which we now do more effectively from the comfort of our homes.
To children, we describe strangers like this: don't rely on them, don't talk to them, stay away from them; don't go near them, don't take chocolates and biscuits for them and don't go anywhere with them, Nothing wrong with it. But then we also need to give them an environment of familiar faces. Youngsters of today feel very secure chatting with their friends on phone and WhatsApp. It is a lot less challenging and a lot easier to break off from the game, in case of dispute.
I feared strangers too. Not just a little, I would break down every time I went out and returned home. Every day. Yet back then, I did not have a choice. As I grew I became comfortable with people and made friends. Even without the fear of strangers, people are still many things, competitors, followers, appreciaters, look downers, haters, conspirers and secret admirers. The risk of being caught in a huff is always there. No one is perfect, not even in their respective roles towards you. They keep switching their position towards you, like shrewd stock market traders. Best solution is to keep a distance. But it was always figurative, never literal. And therefore it is now quite a thing to know that the distance has to be literal.
I am not sure when this will end, but next time when I see strangers, I am going to bless them.
It is the 2020. Today people can easily live a life without setting a foot into the outside world. In-fact some people have even experimented with this and gone on for months on end. Age of the Agoraphobics. You can google the meaning of the word without moving from where you are seated... remember those bulky dictionaries? They are things of the past. On my sofa there is a whole world. At my door step the whole world bows to me. With the press of a few buttons, I can have the furnitures, the electronics, the books, the files the parcels, the groceries, the fresh cooked food, whatever I need. The world is like a video game today.
I took the outside world so for granted, I had no idea that it meant anything to me. I mean I can always blog away my angst against the outside world and gain many cyber sympathies and hope that the targeted person would get the message. We lock our emotions in the digital space. Others, are just playthings. They are hot gossip, ridiculous, inspiring, unbelievable and outrageous on Facebook, WhatsApp, twitter and Instagram. And they are faceless if they are not on the Facebook. If they don't follow us on these they are not our friends, unless they have a fancy title to go with their names in Linked-in. To this world of strangers, COVID19 did not wreck much havoc. In-fact some of us are so relieved, we don't have to go out everyday to do the same work, which we now do more effectively from the comfort of our homes.
To children, we describe strangers like this: don't rely on them, don't talk to them, stay away from them; don't go near them, don't take chocolates and biscuits for them and don't go anywhere with them, Nothing wrong with it. But then we also need to give them an environment of familiar faces. Youngsters of today feel very secure chatting with their friends on phone and WhatsApp. It is a lot less challenging and a lot easier to break off from the game, in case of dispute.
I feared strangers too. Not just a little, I would break down every time I went out and returned home. Every day. Yet back then, I did not have a choice. As I grew I became comfortable with people and made friends. Even without the fear of strangers, people are still many things, competitors, followers, appreciaters, look downers, haters, conspirers and secret admirers. The risk of being caught in a huff is always there. No one is perfect, not even in their respective roles towards you. They keep switching their position towards you, like shrewd stock market traders. Best solution is to keep a distance. But it was always figurative, never literal. And therefore it is now quite a thing to know that the distance has to be literal.
I am not sure when this will end, but next time when I see strangers, I am going to bless them.
No comments:
Post a Comment