By Mr. Plastino D'Costa
This piece is a sincere effort to open our eyes, so we can make a change bit by bit as Goa’s GenerationNext. Each one of you should try to identify the problems within their families and take corrective measures. By no means is this written to instigate you, but to open your thinking process, so that we don’t commit the same mistakes our previous generation has made. Following are some points we should think on:-
1. If you happen to be a modestly educated, try to find out what circumstances forced you into this situation. Was it the school, the money, the parents, or some other reason? If you happen to have relatives, friends in Bombay compare their education with yours. Know Why?
2. Most of us have ancestral properties, check out if the previous generation has sold these properties sure they have a reason, but you are entitled to know the reasons. Know Why?
3. If your previous generation is busy fighting with siblings for properties, maybe at stake is only ego here, check at what cost all this. Don’t take sides. Maybe they are hampering the progress of the whole family to satisfy their ego, activate your thinking process.
4. Most of us have been forced by circumstances to leave Goa to generate income for the family. What were your circumstances? Our previous generation pretends they are classy, compared to Indians at least. If we can’t sustain this class working in Goa, is it really worth?
5. Checkout if your previous generations are active in social causes, if so what are the causes and does it bring benefit to the family or society in the long run. Maybe its just fame that they are interested, maybe the issues they are pursuing are actually detrimental to Goa in the long run?
6. Has your previous generation ever paid taxes, do they posses a PAN Card, if so let them be proud of it, let them show it off in government officials and demand service from them instead of bribing their way. If they don’t have this card in spite of income, its time to ask them Why?
7. Do you see your previous generation frequenting politician houses, to wish them for birthdays, to ask personal favors, or to even solve petty problems in the family, demand an explanation? Can’t they solve their own problems? Know Why?
8. If your grandparents don’t stay with you, question your parents as to why they can’t stay in the same house, why are they kept with the poorest uncle or aunt in the family or in the Aged Home. Check with them what you should do when they get old, get an answer?
9. In Goa noises have been heard from time to time about environment protection, sometimes even at the cost of genuine progress. Look around you, have they really protected the environment, if not what was all the noise about. See the environmental damage around you. Think how we can correct all this.
9. If your previous generation is critical of the church, want the Church to get involved in politics, explain to them that church is needed to clean our souls and to bring peace to our minds. We have enough politicians to run politics. Let the church or temple be kept sacred.
10. If your previous generation has been blaming the politicians for all the ills of the society, point out to them that politicians represent us, every 5 years we have a chance to select whom we want. Apparently they have been selecting the same wrong people time and again so they can get a convenient excuse to blame somebody.
THINK!! You will realize that we are worse off then the previous generation. They have got their priorities wrong. They have been selling ancestral properties to maintain high standard of living, they believe building big houses and buying expensive cars is more important than education, they want to promote their mother tongue when some of them don’t even care where their real mothers live, they have still not figured out what to do with their garbage, they have objected every progressive step taken in the interest of Goa. Probably they have been carried away by the charm of the politicians. Or maybe they were passive and did not activate their thinking process.
Why should we correct this wrong? Because the generation after us, will question you. They will be watching the rest of India taking a giant leap forward leaving Goans behind, that’s the time they will demand answers. Can we solve the problems overnight, NO, but we have to activate our thinking process. We need to ask the question WHY all the time. We need to raise the bar, we need to increase ethical standards, we need to pay our taxes, and remind government officials that we pay their salaries.
There must be at least 10% of Goans already following this value system, but 10% is too small a figure to change the society. Don’t wait for a HERO to come and change all this for you. Do it yourself, bit by bit and everything will fall in place. Then we can be truly proud of Goa.
Above article first appeared on Herald-Goa on 17th October 2005
No comments:
Post a Comment