Tuesday, March 27, 2012

For the Pessimists

This blog is for all the pessimists in the world, who insist on spouting doom and gloom. Their stated view is that the world is getting worse, and that humanity is on a one way trip to extinction. From economic to spiritual catastrophe, from the environment to health, they have almost an infinite arsenal of concerns to bring them down and worry about. The glass is always half empty! As mentioned before in my blog, the news media revels in bringing to us the travesties of man and nature in all its minute details, but that is only because it sells!

I am an idealist, and my view is the exact opposite. We are living in the best times "ever" and are privileged to do so. Instead of complaining, moaning, and waiting for a savior or a guru, we should be celebrating the richness of our lives and the progress achieved so far AND more progress waiting for us around the corner. The possibilities are endless, and so is our capacity to reach them. A world (and life) of abundance awaits us, and our destiny (as individuals and as a race) is in our hands.

That does not mean that there are no problems, and that the path ahead is without immense hurdles. I am not saying that there is, and will be, no pain and suffering, no disasters or calamities. At the individual level we will continue to be subject to the whims and fancies of chance and our own flawed decisions. We will be required as a species and as a people to make tough calls, proverbially to choose between a rock and a hard place. We cannot and should not, absolve ourselves of our responsibilities to society and to future generations, by saying that someone somewhere will wave a magic wand and make the problems disappear. It will get increasingly difficult to just stand by and wait for others to clean up our mess. Nor will burying our heads in the sand, or blaming others, the fates, and blind destiny, hold much credence. 

However, on the big scale, at the Macro level, solutions are, and will be available to address and resolve the great concerns of those times. One is either an optimist or a pessimist on this subject, and I know that a lot of you are sitting on the fence. But I urge you to get off that fence and put your stake on one side or the other. And I would sincerely hope that you will be firmly utopian about our chances and our future. And if you are not, I would definitely like to understand how you intend to explain your views to your children and grand-children.

Anyway enough from me and my views. Click on the link below to get a breath of pure optimism.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/peter_diamandis_abundance_is_our_future.html

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Stereotypes

Yesterday I drove into a petrol station to refuel my car. My daily mileage is such that I need to refuel every three to four days. The attendant came over and asked me what fuel I wanted. Having given him my preference, I switched off my engine and waited for my tank to fill. My mind tends to wander when I am cut-off from all sensory inputs, and waiting in my car with the engine and music turned off, my brain was free-wheeling. So sometime later I lifted my eyes to the rear view mirror to see where the attendant was, and I noticed that he was busy cleaning the windscreen of a 4WD that had pulled in behind me. By itself it was not an unusual sight, and I would have thought nothing of it, but then I started to wonder as to why the same attendant had not asked me whether I needed my windscreen cleaned? It had been dusty and sandy for the last few days, and all cars were in a similar state of messiness.

I almost never have my windscreen wiped at petrol stations, as my regular cleaner does a good job of it. But as I have mentioned often to my wife, it is just the fact that the attendant has the courtesy to ask me, that satisfies me. Anyway seeing the occupants of the vehicle behind me, I observed that they were Western European, which meant that the attendant assumed that he would be rewarded with a higher tip. I have always felt aggrieved when this happens to me. I get annoyed that the vehicle next to me is singled out for special service and I am neglected, and this time the same thought struck me with a higher ferocity. I consider myself a good tipper, and in situations like this I leave no tip, as retribution for the perceived injustice perpetrated on me.


Fuming in my car, I started to wonder as to what I would do if placed in the same situation as the attendant? I work long hours, in the hot sun, running around fuelling cars, cleaning windscreens, and getting paid a pittance. Tips that I earn would probably constitute a significant portion of my total take home pay. Over the months and years, I get to discern different customers, and get good at classifying them according to nationalities, behaviors and tipping patterns. If my income and savings were on the line, would I also not prioritise and be selective as to whom I would offer my service to?   

Continuing on that chain of thought I casually looked around the petrol station to view the various customers and drivers currently filling up. As would be expected the majority harked from the sub-continent, with a significant proportion driving pick-ups, and what appeared to me to be small battered-up company cars. I mentally started to try and work out who would and would not tip for my services. And as I started to segregate the tippers from the non-tippers, I realised that it was my compatriots who I was singling out as being tightfisted.

We are renowned for our frugality, and an overrated mindfulness of the value of every dollar. When it comes to 'giving', we tend to overlook inflation, the current value of money, etc. and immediately try to equate the change in our pockets to the monthly stipend we earned decades ago. We amplify the work that we do to earn our living, and belittle the other person's. The worth we place on the lowest unit of currency often exceeds it real value. And when we do offer a buck, we expect absolute value for it. We demand to be mollycoddled, mothered and slaved over for it. All of these then translate into the quantum of tips we leave behind. 

But I am different, I rationalised. I always leave a good tip, and it is wrong to stereotype attributes. All people are not the same, and the man should have the ability to distinguish! I looked at myself in the rearview mirror to convince myself that I somehow looked different, that I looked like a big tipper. And all I saw was an average Joe with no mark on his forehead to distinguish him from any of the others who he had so callously targeted as miserly.

Having worked all this out in my head, I came to understand the motives of the attendant for ignoring me, and diverting his attentions to where his expectations of reward were higher. 

So what did I do?

Well I lived up to the man's expectations, and drove off without leaving my customary tip!!