Nuclear families: A disturbing trend
Vijay Garg
With the rapid progress of the present age, the change between society and culture is also taking place rapidly. Joint families are disappearing and everyone is giving priority to live in a nuclear or single family. Young people have to give priority to it but old people also give priority to playing their own duffel.
Ever since the fertile land of Punjab started earning big bucks with the Green Revolution, the elderly people have also started distributing land with their sons as partners. Parents have encouraged their sons and daughters to become money-making machines. When a human being becomes money making machine instead of a human being then taking care of his parents or elders also seems to be a losing proposition.
At present children are being taught individualism instead of the welfare of others in which only professional thinking is encouraged. The man who rides on the horse of this business thinking becomes unmindful for the welfare of others. The person who refuses to do good to others also considers his parents as a burden. A child who is obsessed with social service or helping others can never shy away from serving their parents.
We cannot expect any service from children by fanning the flames of lust. At present the race for money has become so dominant in which every section of the society is running and in this race the suffocated human being has no time to think of anyone else.
Nowadays, every human being, in order to see their children in the house of wealth, first gives them so-called education which is a form of robbery instead of teaching and later regrets it. After this modern education, if one wants to get a government job, then barely two percent of the children can get it, of which only those who use the wrong methods get it. Very few young people get a government job with the help of educational qualifications.
The rest of the people think of sending their sons and daughters abroad if they can afford it. Most young people who work in the private sector earn as much as they need to for a living. Young people who get such jobs then start thinking about living their single life. When the youth loses their childhood in education and spends their youth in struggle instead of being free from worries, then their thinking is lame and they adopt a negative attitude towards the society.
In the last few years, technology has evolved to such an extent that everyone’s household expenses and engagements have increased so much that no one has time to interact with others due to which the bond of love and affection is weakening. When the cords of attachment become weak then it is natural that the plant of compassion in the form of kindness dries up. When there is no mercy left in a human being then the religion that fulfills his duty also dies. This is the great tragedy of the present society due to which the bond between the youth and the elders is being broken. As this association diminishes, the lives of older ones become more difficult.
At a young age a human being has a lot of engagements to pass the time but in old age it decreases with time. There comes a time when the body of an elderly person also starts to respond slowly and at such a time only his children can always take care of him. In old age, if there are children, only then the house stays bright, which also keeps the elders in touch with the society. If a person in old age does not have a family or children, then he does not have any friends, which makes loneliness much fearful. Loneliness is very dangerous and scary. A person who has children in old age then it is like heaven but whosoever faces loneliness then this watch of life becomes a form of hell.
In fact, man has jumped to hell in the name of progress. Young people want to earn money by learning from their elders. In the race to raise this money, he doesn’t even remember his own parents or elders. This has become the norm in the present society which is also being borne by the elders. Today’s youth will also face dangerous consequences in the future. Contrary to nature, man can never live a standard life.
(The author is a Retired Principal based at Malout in Punjab)
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