Our role models are still personalities from the past - Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Winston Churchill, Swami Vivekananda... the list is long as it is archaic. Who are today's heroes? There seems to be very many contenders for the role. But all seem similar in stature. Please, I am not asking you to point out the media-polled 'superstars.' I am talking about what each one of personally feel about an individual who has ascertained something sublime enough not to just win our respect, love and admiration but also that magical quality that makes us put them on a pedestal.
In the past there was Mother Teresa. We have Oprah. In the past, we had Henry Ford and Rockefeller. We have Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Richard Branson, ............................... and caravan load of business giants. In the past, there was Issac Newton and Albert Einstein. We have ....? Wait, just me a minute. I know. Who's that guy who did cloning? Anyway, so there are a lot of them too. In the past we had Hemingway, John Milton, John Paul Satre, Albert Camus, Sigmund Freud, and other such legendary figures. Today, we have...well, I can't think of one but know for a fact that there are enough to fill the next 20 pages and it still won't suffice. But don't you feel there is a difference? Somehow, Bill Gates does not evoke the same response within us as, say, Henry Ford or Lee Iacocca. A Desmond Toto is not as touching a personality as Mahatma Gandhi.
What I am saying here is, if you asked a classroom full of 10-year olds who there hero is, chances are you won't get a single name with a majority. None who inspire these soldiers of our future enough to find a place in their heart.
Yes, I admit. A lot of kids want to be the next Tendulkars, and Sania Mirzas of the world. A lot of them want to be Beckhams and Hritik Roshans too. But what about politics? What about areas that are not in the media lime-light? What about Economics? (It is like, after Adam Smith, no one studied the subject.) Science? Art? Music? (Not the kind that makes you an Idol overnight on TV?).
Is media making up for what was once a man's real stature in the society? Shaped by what he believed and did. Not by what he wore, or who he married? Has Media become so powerful and omnipotent that it is shaping our lives? Our perception of it? Our values and our goals? Are our aspirations being neatly packaged and delivered to us as audio and video bytes? Is this the beginning of mind control?
Is there a real hero out there who can save us all?
Ha..ha.., you know, folks, I am just kidding.
1 comment:
well maybe ur not !! it does make sense to some extent.
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