In the days of sun and the moon, the routine goes by, time passes, things happen and most of it - is painful. And this pain is caused by people around you. You listen to Ipods, smoke a cigarette, get drunk, watch a movie, take up another job, watch IPL, post messages on Facebook, etc.,., which is all a sort of an escapism to get away from the hurt, the real pain in todays world. We are all living amidst frustration and intolerable pain, with struggle for everything gets tougher by the day none is spared but left with a chance to hurt another person only to feel better within.
Its not always personal painful stuff, its not about you and me or one person to another, its much beyond that. Today I came across a house keeper in my office, aged around 45 or 50, and he was waiting for other young happy rich employees to pass the door, showing them the level of respect so that he could get in after them. He could've chosen to get in ignoring the passing employees, but, he kept his head low, he had his shoulders down, and looked very sad with the life he was living. I was one among the passing employees, with whom I walked into the lift. I didnt know most of them, but its been 3 plus years in this organization so most know me by face. And one of the employee continued to discuss about the problems with his Boss and work, he sounded sad, the other was feeling depressed about not being able to be with his wife and his new born son for the Diwali for not getting leave, one of the guys was upset that he doesnt have a car to go home as it was about to rain and it would be just another day that he would get drenched, he was angry on the company for not giving him a good hike and also not delighted that he didnt get a dowry to purchase the car etc.,.,
So I went on to my car and started to drive thinking about all this, reached a Signal. There a very young girl, around 7 or 8 years, in torn clothes came to clean my car and within that 60 second signal she wanted to also lift her hand to the window of my car and ask for money. All her childhood gone, with complete innocence in her eyes, all it showed there was pain. I called my mom or my wife, I do that often when I am feeling low, and they both always helps me out of it. She was in pain too, she has a knee problem and a slip disk still she has to cook and sometimes not cook for my brother studying in the college. Same goes with my Dad, he stays away from his family, I stay away from them, not able to take care of anybody I face guilt everyday. Still I have to give a smile with billions of problems hanging right behind it. I am sure its the same with everyone else, more or less.
Though many do smile, have fun, its just to escape from the living pain and fear that when its there i will live that moment and push the pain to another day or face it when it comes. This is our current life. I even feel bad for people in 40s who drive slow, I also see a frustration in those young hot blood, lonely and determined who drive rash and fast on the roads. I came across a blog in which it said "The day we all realise this, that the rich is in as much pain as the poor, that the employer is having as tough a time as the employee, that the cop who asks you for a bribe lives as sad a life as you, the pickpocket you catch has risked being lynched because he has no other alternative means of livelihood, that the movie star you idolise is as lonely as you are, that the one who brutalises you is perhaps as brutalised by life as you are, the less we will seek to blame others for our fate. You will feel less anger against that guy in the tax office who asks you for a bribe when you realise he is still paying back, after ten years on his job, his father's debt for getting him the job. We are lucky. The Americans are consuming today what their next 13 generations will have to pay for. The Greeks will be lucky if their next generation can survive their current crisis. "
Yet man bravely strides ahead. As we flirt with more pain, more danger, we discover more and more ways to seek gratification, more technology to flaunt, more entertainment to excite us and, most important, more dreams to chase. So we pursue new ways to earn more money, grow more food, hunt down more pleasures, seek to extend our life spans.
his is the miracle of our times. Even as most things go wrong, man's ingenuity to seek hope and happiness keeps improving. But where we fail most is in sustaining relationships. The best companies collapse, as do the best marriages, the best rock groups, the most intense relationships because our weltschmerz makes us lonely islands of pain. That's why last week, when R.E.M broke up after 31 years, I remembered their most popular song, which became the anthem of our times. Everybody hurts. Yes, everybody hurts. And that is why we hurt each other so much.
