Have We Lost Civilty?

A  thick golden chain around his neck. He flaunts the latest iPhone. He drives a Pajero. And then he opens the window of his vehicle and spits out on the road. He does not give a hoot about the fact that one of the persons on the roads could have fallen victim to his uncivilised act.

This is just an example. You may see people like the one mentioned above all around. Possession of physical assets does not mean civility and class. Had physical assets been the major indicator of development, Dubai or Qatar would be regarded as developed nation. It's not the physical buildings and infrastructure that make a society rich. Development lies within our thought. Had the man I mentioned above been in the US, he would certainly not have attempted to do what he did in Nepal. .

This is quite common in Nepal that people when abroad tend to act with civility but when back home, the sense of courteousness just vanishes. Why should someone reach Melbourne to start thinking that there are “no high level jobs and low level jobs, and that all jobs are equal?” Why should someone reach Ottawa or Honolulu not to litter public spaces? .

The nations that we know as “developed” are not developed because of the property and wealth they own, but because of the lifestyles they follow..

It's not only the person who I mentioned above; let's think about ourselves and some of our actions. .

Do we care while spitting? Are we sensible enough when it comes to managing waste? How often do we litter public spaces? How much attention we pay to pedestrians while driving a car or a motorbike?.

All of us boast about being civilised. We want to keep our self-esteem high. But is that possible without changing our thoughts? Or does it mean we “can be” civilised when in foreign countries but there is no need to be civilised here?

At the end, we have our favourite pastime of cursing the system. “Our system is bad,” is what we so conveniently say without giving much thought. But before blaming the system, we need to look at ourselves. We fail to realise that we are contributing in giving our country a bad name. Even not to throw garbage around we wait for a rule to be enforced. Do we really need rules not to dump garbage on the streets? It's time we started thinking about what it means to be “civilised” and what efforts we must put to be called civilised people?.

  

Published in The Himalayan Times of July 30, 2018