Freewill or Destiny >> Part II
In Part I of this post, I had tried to put in perspective our religious and cultural background on the subject of destiny In this part I will bring out the importance of action and effort.
I am believer in free-will. When someone dies in an accident or illness due to lack of medical care, or a natural disaster, it is not because it was due to “uparwala” (god/ destiny) but because those of us here (neechewala’s) refused to act.
Let me illustrate this with a few examples:
• When India became independent, the average longevity was 45 to 47 years. Now, 60 years later, it is 65 years. By any standards, this is a remarkable achievement. And how did this happen? Not by an act of god, but by the efforts of some dedicated leaders and men. India invested in better health care, nutrition, hygiene, vaccinations and so on. By no means is the job over, but the longevity HAS risen by nearly 50 percent. So what our preceding generations put down due to “uparwala” was actually due to the neglect of the “neechewalas”.. the Brits and the most of the Indian Royalty…
• Then again, the east coast of India (specially the Andhra Pradesh coast) is prone to cyclonic storms. Till the 70’s every alternate year, sometimes every year, there would be 1000’s of deaths in that area, and we would read about it in the newspapers. Many thousands more would be left homeless. To the immediate relatives of the victims and those who lived in surrounding areas, this was again “uparwala” at work. But then suddenly someone put him out of business, at least on the east coast of India. The government installed a coastal cyclone warning system. So when a cyclone is forecast, people are warned and they move to safer places. We still have occasional deaths, but the numbers are typically less than a 100 in any year. Unfortunately, “uparwala” is till in business in Bangladesh, because they don’t have a cyclone warning system.
There are still the tsunamis and the earthquakes which are unpredictable and cause large scale death and destruction. I guess it’s a matter of time till we learn to deal with that.
Look around you , and you will find that most of the tragedies are the result of inaction at various levels, and not because of the unknown forces of destiny. Life at the day-to-day level is governed by cause-and-effect and effort-and-result rather than the randomness of fate.
So what is the moral of the story ? The moral of the story is that in India , to progress, we should elect sensible people and parties to represent us, and we should demand more from our elected representatives at all levels. That is the way we will be masters of our own destiny. We should believe in the power of action, rather than leave things to destiny.
In Part I of this post, I had tried to put in perspective our religious and cultural background on the subject of destiny In this part I will bring out the importance of action and effort.
I am believer in free-will. When someone dies in an accident or illness due to lack of medical care, or a natural disaster, it is not because it was due to “uparwala” (god/ destiny) but because those of us here (neechewala’s) refused to act.
Let me illustrate this with a few examples:
• When India became independent, the average longevity was 45 to 47 years. Now, 60 years later, it is 65 years. By any standards, this is a remarkable achievement. And how did this happen? Not by an act of god, but by the efforts of some dedicated leaders and men. India invested in better health care, nutrition, hygiene, vaccinations and so on. By no means is the job over, but the longevity HAS risen by nearly 50 percent. So what our preceding generations put down due to “uparwala” was actually due to the neglect of the “neechewalas”.. the Brits and the most of the Indian Royalty…
• Then again, the east coast of India (specially the Andhra Pradesh coast) is prone to cyclonic storms. Till the 70’s every alternate year, sometimes every year, there would be 1000’s of deaths in that area, and we would read about it in the newspapers. Many thousands more would be left homeless. To the immediate relatives of the victims and those who lived in surrounding areas, this was again “uparwala” at work. But then suddenly someone put him out of business, at least on the east coast of India. The government installed a coastal cyclone warning system. So when a cyclone is forecast, people are warned and they move to safer places. We still have occasional deaths, but the numbers are typically less than a 100 in any year. Unfortunately, “uparwala” is till in business in Bangladesh, because they don’t have a cyclone warning system.
There are still the tsunamis and the earthquakes which are unpredictable and cause large scale death and destruction. I guess it’s a matter of time till we learn to deal with that.
Look around you , and you will find that most of the tragedies are the result of inaction at various levels, and not because of the unknown forces of destiny. Life at the day-to-day level is governed by cause-and-effect and effort-and-result rather than the randomness of fate.
So what is the moral of the story ? The moral of the story is that in India , to progress, we should elect sensible people and parties to represent us, and we should demand more from our elected representatives at all levels. That is the way we will be masters of our own destiny. We should believe in the power of action, rather than leave things to destiny.
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