Yesterday I read a news report about a girl committing suicide after she had to clean toilets of her school as she had not paid her school fees. The school authorities claim that her mother was asked to clean and they don't know as to why she had to do her mothers job. I don't want to get into the details of why the school had to resort to such behaviour/ why her mother did not clean the toilets- that's the matter for another post maybe....what really got me thinking is “Was cleaning toilets such a big blow for the girl that she had to take such a drastic step?” I ended up discussing this episode with a colleague who gave a vital point that “Society acceptance is a big thing for people, especially for kids- the fact that she had to suffer humiliation and probably jibes from her peers, would have resulted into such a drastic step”
Why is opinion of society/ people important?? There are two kinds of people – people who matter/ people who don't. People who matter will know you and will love you for what you are – their love for you will not change with your achievements and failures in life. There is a separate breed of people (a big breed – I'm afraid) whose opinions change about you with change in situations in life.
Do they really matter?? You don't have to be a football of opinions of such people. You have to be true to yourself, your loved ones who are in the core circle, (the first kind)your conscience and your work. If you end up doing something which hurts yourself/ your conscience/your loved ones/your work, you need to feel sorry and change; but IGNORE the rest. GOD has given us two ears so please make use of them – take all info from one end, retain ONLY what is important and release the non vital information from the other end. Trust me- it's not that difficult; am speaking from experience. You will be much happier that ways :)
Mansee's Point Of View
7 comments:
yeah, sadly public opinion and peer pressure steer people into doing ridiculous things at great costs. I see it all around me. Its sad. And difficult sometimes. To keep oneself from falling into societal traps.
well i cant agree more on this
Amen Sister Amen!!
Thanks guys!!
Mansee! I quite agree with your views if they are made with adults in mind. But with regards to children, I wouldn't quite agree. the reason they take such a drastic step might be inability to bear the pain of being isolated for such a punishment or lack of having nobody to talk about it. A child doesn't usually understand what acceptance is..what I mean is that a child doesn't think when taking a step like that. He/she acts impulsively, that's what children are like. When they are children, we call their impulsiveness innocence. That is why parents are so necessary to provide a safety cocoon to them, so that they ensure that it doesn't lead them to take such drastic steps...anyway!
chalo, bye
Sandhya
@Sandhya - True!!
Agree with the above comment, acceptance would be different from a child's pov. Children aren't so mature to decide whose opinion matters and and whose doesn't! And that's where an open dialogue between parents n children should help, children should be encouraged to question and irritate every damn thing.
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