Pic.:Pradeep Nanda
“No one is immune from addiction;
it afflicts people of all ages, races,
classes, and professions.”
An addiction is any kind of compulsion, a habit pattern my mind is
accustomed to, addicted to… It is a reaction. Not an action coming from my
conscious choice, my awareness.
In the mediation of ‘Vipasana’, as I understand, we are helped to deal
with our addictions… all kinds of addictions.
The TV at our place is down for some months now. We are not at all interested
in getting it fixed… For, we are not at all interested in watching the news,
serials, reality shows or whatever that is dished out in the name of information,
entertainment or infotainment and all that.
So, when I glance through the morning newspaper or when someone shares
something on social media, I get to know about a road accident – and how Hippocratic
media is when it is concerned about the scar on Hema Malini’s face and cold
about the little baby who died in that accident… How wrong or right the media
is when it comes to the story of the US flight, allegedly being delayed by our
CM…
I am just citing two immediate incidents those come to my mind.
This Post is triggered off from what I saw this morning. Two young boys
were fiercely debating on the road accident involving Hema Malini and the
little baby. So much, so intense was the argument, that I had to intervene to
separate the two young-men.
“Where did you come across this story?” I asked both of them.
“Whatsapp and Facebook,” said one. “TV and newspaper,” said the other.
“Any of you is an eyewitness… I mean, any of you were there near the
accident spot?”
“Of course not,” both raised their elbows.
“So, to believe or not to believe in a media story is whose choice?” I
asked.
“Ours, of course,” there was complete agreement on this, too.
“And, whose choice is it when you ‘react’ like this – like bitter enemies
- on this incident? What if you choose not to react?” I enquired.
Probably, that was the first time these two young-men must have been
made aware of this term called ‘reaction’… I could feel that… They were looking
at each other…
The debate had ended… One more addiction!
GERALD D’CUNHA
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