Society afflicted with ills
By: Syed Mustafa Ahmad
There are many evils prevalent in our society. Some of them are attached with it since times immemorial. However, some are of the recent origin. The evils prevalent in our society are: dowry, drug addiction, domestic violence, female foeticide, female infanticide, illegal abortions, corruption, gender inequality, racism, human trafficking, castesim, poverty, food adulteration, hoarding, etc., to name a few.
All these evils adversely affect our lives. However, some are graver than others. Like female infanticide and female foeticide are against humanity and the natural plan. No one has the liberty to kill a living being especially a human being. It directly attacks the very survival of generations.
But this sort of behavior is not the culmination of some days; but it has a long history that slowly and steadily prepared the ground for such a behavior that we see in our society. Here, I would like to throw some light over some causes that will make us understand the real nature of these evils.
The first is materialism. This path has to be treaded carefully. It has the potential of creating as well as destroying. But the experience shows that a majority of people are destroyed by the harmful side of materialism. They worship materialism. Humanity is humiliated in the pursuit of this. The destruction of the Central Asia, Myanmar, Syria, Africa, etc., to name a few, has made it clear that when the crown of humanity acts against his or her capacity, the fate of the whole world is destined to be destructive.
This destruction gives rise to a number of other crimes. Drug addiction, sex scandals, human trafficking, etc., happen in these areas because in the backdrop of failure of the government, might becomes right. Anti-social elements take place in place of morality and the result is the society falls into an abyss of immortality.
The second is the lack of scientific temper. Every religious and non-religious text stress upon this fact that a person should ponder over the creation of the Universe. The perfect design of the Universe will make a person realize that there is someone who is the most intelligent and the perfect designer. The diversity among the living beings, will allow him or her to appreciate his or her Creator.
The diversity among the non-living things will also leave him or her amazed. The natural phenomena will force him or her to think that they happen due to natural causes. There is no human contribution in it. This kind of mindset is an asset for the whole humanity. In contrast, the superstitious mind never thinks like this. He or she fears the natural phenomena. The rainbow is something to be worshipped. The big trees on account of their size are to be called sacred. God becomes happy when we help each other, regardless of colour, age, religion, etc. But what when we sacrifice human beings to appease gods, means that we are more nasty than animals. God hates violence but we kill each other on the pretext that certain people bring ill-omen and they should be killed instantly. This approach is quite dangerous and its fruits are quite bitter to taste.
The third is the lenient governmental controls. If they are strict, no crime will happen on such a large scale. The culprits should be dealt harshly. There should be no complacency in punishing the culprits. The culprits, owing to many reasons, get freedom without much pain. In politics, a ruler should be an embodiment of both mercy and dread. A ruler will rule according to the situations. The other side of him or her that is dread is more important in the contemporary world. The language of love is not understood by the majority of people. So, it becomes necessary to get them on the right track by the use of stick. I feel it is nice to punish the guilty so that others get a lesson. It will somehow bring down the graph of evils down.
The last is gender discrimination. A girl and a boy are discriminated on the basis of useless things. A boy is generally taken as a source of pride while a girl as a source of shame. This mindset will not allow girls to live. The ways will be sought to kill them so that the shame they bring with them is ended forever.
Our social structure makes it possible to distinguish between a boy and a girl. A girl is always looked with suspicion. Most of the times, boys get scot free while girls are subjected to different harassments for the same activity that is done by a boy. This inequality is found everywhere. From homes to the markets, the story is same. This atmosphere brings no comfort but only gloom and frustration. And we are eyewitnesses to this. No day passes when a girl is not raped, teased, molested, etc.
We call ourselves modern but we still live in an orthodox manner. We have not understood the reality of a man’s creation. If we had known, we would have mended our ways. If someone knows it, he or she still follows others and the society becomes devoid of the ethically good persons that create so many problems for the society. We must start from ourselves and become an epitome of morality and righteousness.
KV News
