Why is our generation so unhappy?

“What do you think about those stars in the sky? Uh ? I can keep looking at them. They never cease to intrigue me”, he said with a glow in his eyes.

We were lying on the terrace of the house, gazing at the unpolluted night sky.

I nodded. My thoughts were somewhere else.

He noticed and smiled.

He continued with the same fervour. He didn’t need an audience.

“You know? I have always wondered what they really are.”

“Are they little glowing things like a bulb? And who put them there? Uh?”.

He sighed blissfully.

One of us got interested in his queries.

She said, “ Oh no. It’s not like you imagine. In reality, stars are as big as our earth. In fact, most of them are colossal in comparison to our earth.They are far far away. They are in distances that we cannot even imagine.”

“Uh”, he replied, pretending to understand.

He went back to looking at the stars with even more awe.

But, she was not one to give up.

She went on talking about the stars, the universe and other stuff.

We too joined her in her mission to put the facts right.

He nodded at every statement, acknowledging them humbly, and then going back to his world of bliss, awe and ignorance.

We smiled at the cuteness. At his ignorance.

He continued on with his inquiry, “But still, why are they there ? What is the purpose of them being there?”.

He turned around to be greeted by blank faces.

‘He’ is my Grandfather.

This was a conversation we had when four of us, cousins, went to his house during a summer vacation.

Now the question:

Why is our generation so unhappy?

Yes, I think our generation is relatively unhappy as compared to others .

We know about the world. We know about the stars. We know about the universe. We know everything that is to be known.

And yet, we don’t know to be in awe. In awe of the everyday things around us, that we take for granted.

When I was writing this answer, I got reminded about the life of my Grandfather. I have heard the story many times.

He had been in crippling poverty. He had been cheated by his colleagues on several occasions in his business endeavors. He had spent countless nights, sleeping on an empty stomach.

Once, he had not even been able to afford milk for my mother who was an infant then.

But, he got through them all.

And he did all this, without ever giving up his ability to live. To be in awe. To be in love with life.

And I cannot help but compare this with our generation, where people think a two-digit number or a single alphabet determines their fate and worth.

We have the world in our hands.

We have the best teacher in Google. The best friends on Facebook. The best life on Instagram.

And yet, we are bored. We beat ourselves up unnecessarily . We drag ourselves through life .

We are unhappy.

So, who is the real ignorant person here?

An illiterate old man in love with life or an educated young man who believes his life depends on a grade?

Originally written by me here : http://qr.ae/TUpr3o