From the combined stereotypical wisdom that I have acquired from the cultures I have lived in - (Indian spiritual and American practical), here is a suggested solution to reducing the problem of stressful modern life that seems to set off some individuals beyond their breaking point and explode in an act of violence against random or a targeted mass of people. This seems to be the result of a lifestyle that is associated with 'advanced' and 'developed' countries and societies today and has spread to the East and developing societies now.
This suggestion can read as totally in jest or taken completely seriously. You can laugh at it heartily and put it into practice too, if you wish to.
Try and let everyone begin their first interaction in the day packing a smile, hearing or saying a blessing and a gun. Use the first two always to start with and continue using them constantly, as long as you can. The last one you have is just in case...
Greet everyone with a smile and a blessing (does not have to be a religious one, atheists can bless people with good wishes too, you know!). Let the milk of human kindness drip. Let there be a spirit of friendliness, kindness and love in anything we initiate. Watch carefully how a person responds. If they reciprocate it is fine and good and let the sweetness continue as long as it can. It is only rarely that one will need the last item you carry.
While every radio or TV announcer, the first human voices we hear in the morning in this modern age is already pre-tuned to sound warm, friendly and positive, we have become de-tuned to this. Our first real human contacts are usually still grumpy, in a hurry or ill-tempered until they have had their coffee or let out a bit of their bitchiness... We accept this as normal. This needs to be changed. It used to be that we first heard human or real live voices that woke us up in the morning. All our first mornings sounds in the olden days, in the average normal families were mostly of gentle or warm spirited words, prayers or blessings by people around us, not mechanical or electronic alarms or voices far away in studios paid to sound artificially constantly and unrealistically cheerful.
The modern part of the world today seems to have ever mounting problems, stress, tensions and angst for even the basic existence, even with the numerous conveniences, devices and technology to help, assist and supposedly give us more time for expressing our nicer side. This seething built-up stress in individuals seems to boil over with increasing frequency in some extreme, powerful outburst that often claims the lives or the normal way of life for many around the person who loses control. This is usually a terrible, terrorising act that often results in a large number of people and their families permanently affected in ways that will never be reported in the news or even watched with attention if indeed they did.
We all read this in the news reports, feel sorry or have a bit more of added stress ourselves, express a burst of sympathy for the latest victims and move on, usually quickly. We forget, as we should to be able cope ourselves. What can one do to change the dynamic? To change the dynamic of everyday as it begins and continues? To change the dynamic of every interaction all through the day? I thought about it and this is what I came up with.
What do you think?
Copyright (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2018
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