“the time we live in is winter of the world”

“ The Time we live in is winter of the World” THE TIME WE LIVE IN IS THE WINTER OF THE WORLD Outline: I. Introduction. II. Materialism. III. Selfishness and greed. IV. Poverty, hunger, crime and economic exploitation. V. Religious Values. VI. Family Values. VII. Wars and Conflicts. VIII. Global Warming. IX. Conclusion. In its literal meaning ‘ winter’ is one of the four seasons of the climate marked by extreme cold and snow. However, in English literature and poetry it has been used to portray death, sorrow, resentment, downfall and grief. For example in ‘ Stopping By woods on a Snowy Evening’ Robert Frost has portrayed winter to demonstrate death, downfall and grief. Therefore, we can infer that ‘ The time we live in is the winter of the world’ because the same is happening in contemporary times. The current path that we have embarked upon is leading towards our own destruction. There is a famous cliché that ‘ man is a social animal’. Here social implies that man has an indigenous need to live in societies and with mutual corporation. Also the societies do not remain stagnant but they constantly undergo changes which are inevitable. With social change, the standards of morality i. e conforming to the standards of right and wrong also change. Additionally, this obvious social change can be positive or negative depending upon improvement or degradation of standards of morality. Unfortunately, in recent times such social changes resulted notably towards the downfall in the standards of morality resulting degradation of values. A comparative analysis of attitudes, habits and culture of our ancestors to contemporary times would suffice to prove that ours time is the winter of the world. Man at the same time is both a physical and a spiritual being. Similarly, these two dimensions have their own different needs. If needs pertaining to any of these dimensions remain unsatisfied then human personality fails to develop in a desired way. That is why the phenomenon of materialism becomes very pertinent in this particular context. ‘ Materialism’ is defined as preoccupation with or over emphasis upon material object with a disinterest in spiritual and cultural values. In today’s world people have become highly materialistic and are in a chronic struggle to satisfy physical need. As the primary focus is to satisfy physical needs, the spiritual needs remain deprived. Consequently, the standards of morality and good cultural values are in decline. Today, most of the population around the globe believes earning wealth and money are the primary purpose of life without making any effort to satisfy their spiritual needs. However, one has to understand that there is no end to any such struggle and the more a person will go for the means of comfort seeking , the more body will demand for it. Notably therefore, all around the world we see large mansions, expensive personal jets, fancy cars, fashion brands and lavish lifestyles being the most desirable. These all are the symbols of materialism. Also this culture of elites is exported through media to less affluent members of society in a very attractive way, making it desirable for them too. Gradually they too start to believe in all that is considered to be ‘ desirable’ by media. Hence, by this vicious cycle materialism is increasing day by day. However, this is not to imply that a man should reject all worldly pleasures and adopts a life of seclusion, but simplicity and moderation should be desirable by all in all walks of life. On the other hand preoccupation with the physical means results in constant deprivation of spiritual needs which further leads towards the decay of ‘ ethics’ in societies. Unfortunately, it can be easily conceded that if present trends continued, there will be a time when morality would give way all together and there would be a widespread chaos and mutiny in the world. ‘ Materialism’ is then notably succeeded by other evil attributes like ‘ greed and selfishness’. A child born anywhere in the world is innocent. His mind is like a blank paper and anything printed on it becomes its permanent feature. Therefore, when a child grows in a materialistic society where the prime purpose of life is to acquire worldly pleasures, he also becomes greedy and is likely to be concerned for his own benefits more than caring much for his fellow members of the society. Greed is then obviously succeeded by ‘ selfishness’. One of the prerequisite of a just, peaceful and harmonious world is ‘ selflessness’. However, on the contrary in current times there is turmoil, widespread injustice and violence because of greed and selfishness. Wars are waged due to underlying personal gains, politicians betray their people for their own vested interests and people are exploited by powerful financial institutes in manipulative ways. Still there are many who want to work ‘ selflessly’ for the system, but surrounded by such corrupt system they feel frustrated and alienated and unfortunately gradually become a part of such a system too. Hence, with increasing selfishness and greed, our world is likely to see more disharmony, violence and destruction. Materialism, greed and selfishness of man have wrecked havoc on this world. The policies enacted by powerful elites have massively harmed their fellow men. The economic disparities, hunger, poverty is on the rise. According to a study conducted by United Nations Institute for economic development , only 2% of the world richest own half of the world’s asset. The rest 98% are left with the other half of total resources of the world. Such widespread economic inequality has led to increased poverty, hunger and other economic hardships around the world. According to another report published by World Bank, more than one billion people are living below the poverty line. According to UNICEF 22, 000 children die every year due to poverty. Poverty is increasing every year and many independent experts believe that root cause of poverty is faulty economic and political system, by which only a small minority of the world has took control of most of the resources of the world. With poverty, comes disease, illiteracy, crime and many other problems. These are strange times that we live in where man is indifferent toward the pain and troubles of his fellow beings. Thus the pain, suffering, hardships and troubles of the world are increasing day by day.   In the late 19th and 20th century we have seen tremendous advancements in science and technology due to which the life of an individual has been changed considerably. Revolutionary means of transportation and communication have been introduced and cure for many diseases were found. It was expected by many people that such advancements would lead us to better and peaceful life, but on the contrary anxiety, depression and stress in the life common people further elevated. According to a new World Health Organization (WHO) study, not only are depression rates significantly higher in affluent nations but cases of major depression are on the rise throughout the world. The study concludes that depression is a severe global problem that will change from being the world’s fourth leading cause of disability worldwide, to being the second leading cause of disability by 2020. Similarly, the rate of suicide is increasing around the globe. The reasons are very obvious i. e constant deprivation of spiritual needs. Due to the man’s predilections for worldly pleasures, religious values are pushed back and its relevance is deemed unimportant. Thus, we see that today, despite having better standard of living than our ancestors, people are unsatisfied with their lives. By the same token, family values are also degrading. Psychologists concede that people who have strong family relationships, peer groups and a sense of belongings are more satisfied and happy with their lives. The classical family values where parents were held in high esteem, siblings were treated with respect and love, a healthy matrimonial life and a sense of well being and care for relatives existed, are slowly vanishing. Notably, then people today despite having all means of communication are technically less connected and more alone. Consequently, without being a part of supporting social group they are more prone to depression, stress and unhappiness.   Wars and conflict are permanent features of our time. Although wars have continued throughout the history, but never have been they disastrous to such a huge scale as in current times. Again the underlying cause of these wars was greedy and selfish nature of man. World War 1 and World War 2 claimed lives of over 76 million people. They were the most deadliest wars in the history of the world. Additionally, even after witnessing such a massive tragedy, no effective steps were taken to end the arm race in the world. The tragic events of ‘ Nagasaki’ and ‘ Hiroshima’ where US army dropped atomic bombs, alone caused deaths of millions, with after effects of radiation still visible in those cities. These incident showed the whole world of what these nuclear weapons were capable of. However, it could be conceded that in today’s world, countries own atomic and nuclear weapons much more lethal than those used in two cities of Japan. Keeping in view the destructive power of these weapons, it can be easily predicted that any such war in future would annihilate the entire mankind from this planet. Today most of the wars are fought for capturing natural resources of other nations or to increase one’s hegemony under the umbrella of false claims and motives. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are recent examples. We live in a time where wars have become a profitable business for a minority and causing huge sufferings and hardships for majority. The advancement in weapons technology and invention of nuclear bombs and missiles have made the world a dangerous place to live. Any misadventure by any nuclear country many lead to widespread destruction to an extent which humanity has not seen until now. The God Almighty has created this world based upon some definite principle. The whole mechanism of the world is in a perfect balance. The life on the planet depends upon interaction of organisms and their physical environment. The food that we consume comes from crops. Agriculture depends upon water, which depends upon rain, which further depends upon climate. Similarly climate also depends upon many factors like temperature and forests. However, due to recent industrialisation, the activities of man have also affected the climate. Huge emission of carbon dioxide from industries and other sectors have led to deterioration of ozone layers, which protects the earth from harmful radiations of the Sun. Similarly, the toxic industrial emissions have also led to global warming whereby the temperature of earth is gradually rising, causing adverse environmental changes. Ice bergs are melting in oceans causing floods and the pattern of rainfall has changed. Deforestation has also caused less rainfall and increased temperature. The whole ecosystem of the planet is disturbed but injurious industrial activities are still going on unabated without any significant steps to stop these phenomenon. Unfortunately, it is concede by many scientists that if present trends continued, the survival on planet would much be difficult due to natural calamities like floods, droughts, food scarcity and disease. Under such circumstances people, nation and countries would further try to capture the resources of others, leading to more violence and conflicts around the globe.   The prevailing conditions of our times are gloomy. Selfishness, greed, indifference and corruption are visible attributes of today’s societies. The fabric of family is disturbed, religions values have faded and materialistic endeavors have taken supremacy in today’s world. As a consequence, despite having all sources of physical satisfaction, man is still ‘ unsatisfied’ and ‘ unhappy’. The lust for power and desire for more and more has led to many conflicts and wars. Millions of people are killed in these wars and the possibility of their continuation is very much visible. Additionally with the invention of modern weapons, the whole human race on planet can be eradicated easily. Similarly, the activities of man and resource abuse have disrupted the environment and have made life on the planet further difficult. Thus after seeing widespread turmoil, sufferings, depression, unhappiness, injustice, poverty, hunger and uncertainty towards the future, we can conclude that ‘ the time we live in is the winter of the world’.