Monday, June 01, 2015

"Cynicism"

“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” Oscar Wilde.

Good Evening!

It's Monday evening, and it has been indeed a long summer day. But anyway, I've tried to be keep myself busy the whole day. The first thing I did in the morning was going through the news on Times of India online. It's the daily so and so news except I found one interesting piece of article about a Delhi born billionaire becoming a monk. Kudos to him for choosing to dedicate his life for the service of God and mankind. Beside being a billionaire, he is also a father to two sons and a daughter, so it must be really tough for him when he decided to become a monk. I guess this kind of decisions are the one very difficult to decide. Of course, many people are very cynical of his decision and especially the extravagant coronation of him becoming a monk going by the comments section in the article. But it is his own individual decision so it is worth respecting his privacy.

The fact is that it is very easy to question one's motive but it is very difficult to swallow the truth. I have a nephew who is nearly 4 years old. And to be frank, I don't know what is his motive when he plays around with his toys. All I know is that the playing really makes him happy. Today at around afternoon, I decided to take him out for a walk and also knowing that I have to buy a medicine for my youngest brother. Before we went out, I was kind of prepared as I already knew my nephew was going to ask me a lot of questions when we will be walking together on the road. I really don't mind being questioned by my nephew because the questions are all valid and it has nothing to do with my ulterior motive on why I took him out for a walk. Truth be told, it is just a sheer happiness of walking with an innocent.

When we were walking back home after I've bought the medicine as well as some sweets, I couldn't believed what he did just right in front of me. As we walked past a temple nearby the road, he asked me stop for a while. I just stood there and I watched him walking towards the temple doorstep and he folded his hand indicating he is praying to God. I really don't have a clue what he had prayed to God but that was something amazing. Tell me, is it right if I have to ask him, what did you prayed to God about and what was your motive praying to God? Trust me, I don't have an inkling idea if he already understand the concept of praying and religions. The one thing I'm sure about is, I don't have the right to ask what he had prayed or his ulterior motive.

Of course! Asking question regarding a person or any institution ulterior motive is good in some way. However, one has be sensible enough before coming up with a stupid question or being too cynical at that moment. I meant if a person is doing something good which can benefits the society at large and for his/her happiness, who are we to question his/her ulterior motive? But a billionaire becoming a monk is huge so there must be something going on inside. Wow! It is debatable news! And if a poor guy becomes a monk, well the general assumption is that 'poverty' is the reason for the guy becoming a monk. Probably, the general mindset is whenever a person do something good out of extraordinary circumstances or simply ordinary, the person is always questioned for his or her good deed. Forgive me! But we've become so cynical of people who are doing something good for the betterment of society.

Well, my point is rather than being too cynical, encouragement to good doers is the need of the time. Or, even if we can't acknowledge or encourage but before questioning the good doer, remember the following lines from Matthew 7:5, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Food for Thought: “He found that it was easy to make a heroic gesture, but hard to abide by its results.” W. Somerset Maugham.

Thank you and have a good evening!

No comments:

Post a Comment