~Children of the new millennia~
The day I graduated with a Masters Degree from London University (UCL) — 9/11/2001. Yes you read it right, it was Nine Eleven, Two Thousand one.
Yes, the most ill-fated day of the 21st Century. The world changed for all of us — quite distorted, tainted and blurred.
Humanity came under attack by its own protagonists, for its own dealings, failures and ignorance.
We a bunch of young blue eyed youth with dreams and ambitions in our minds and hearts wondered how will we deal with the world from here on?
Yes there was resentment, despair and outrage. There were speculations of the world coming to a standstill, people building their own fortresses with personal and national security at risk.
And many also believed that trust, coherence and empathy in society will take decades to get its footing again in the human psyche.
Countries did contemplate on closing their borders, building walls and barriers and hiking up their defense systems.
Why does it all seem so familiar today? Has the mankind not completely realized yet, that it thrives on fear? Terrorism, anarchy, political coups, economic rupture, natural calamities and Pandemics!
Does anything change really? Except our pedantic beliefs, fighting mechanisms, heights of vigilance and survival instincts, there isn’t much that we learn from these unprecedented incidents.
What doesn’t change is the human need for resilience, agility and a meaningful existence.
2001 was as dreadful a number, a year in our calendars and personal diaries as is 2020. We would all want to erase these from our memories, delete it from all our pages and start afresh.
But these are exactly the numbers, the dates, the times that give us the greatest optimism of creating a better world for ourselves and for all of us. We want our fervor to relapse into its original form post the set-backs, the challenges that pushed us to the edge.
And that’s where excellence surfaces….
Former President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam remained passionate and committed to what he called Vision 2020 for transforming India with a focused manifesto for change.
Visual acuity of 20/20 is considered the “perfect vision”.
And this is where we are at 2020 — adjusting our focus for the perfect vision for the future.
Yet, it is still a number, a year in the Georgian English Calendar that we despise so much.
Change happens within us when people, times, places, incidents inspire. To all the young people out there, don’t fall for the cynical view that is being portrayed to you that world will not be the same again.
Who wants the world to be the same anyways? This is the damn disruption we have all been eagerly waiting for to change our most non-prolific existence.
Adapt to New ways of living, working, eating, travelling and entertaining was what they told us at the beginning of the 21st Century. Well, we did, we were the children, the youth of the most resilient species of the planet.
We survived, we thrived and we lived.
As youth, we did, and so will you — always aspire to bring the change you want to see, you will strive hard to make the most dogmatic too, a bit more receptive. Yes believe me, you will, however daunting that may seem to you now. You are the best bet for the world and no one can deny you your spot in the act.
World is still your home. Travel will still be the best way to lose and find yourself. We are all not going to die today but someday. Your loved ones are always the best people to have around you but strangers can become your best friends too.
….Cheers to a wonder land of challenges, newness, discoveries and mysteries of the self and the most astonishing, incredible Universe that we belong to…..
….Cheers to scientific knowledge, conventional wisdom, art and its forms, languages and expressions, to parity of thoughts, opportunities and differences….
Some things do change, some evolve, some are lost…yet there is so much more to find.
