Who is bothered?

Sens'i'tivity versus 'I'nsensitivity

Traffic on the road is one element which everyone has to experience. Double parking and incorrectly parked vehicles is the commonest quality displayed by drivers. Honking the horn from behind when somebody in front is rightfully standing at the signal waiting for it to turn green is a common sight. Coming from the wrong side and intimidating the driver on the right side is another display of disregard for rules.

Educated, uneducated, social workers, politicians, doctors, engineers, artists, lawyers and everybody, barring those who respect rules and are afraid of wrongdoings, show this behaviour. Boarding the bus from the wrong door, breaking the queue, arguing with fellow passengers and the conductor are common happenings.

In the office too there are some employees who continuously bicker about the managements ineptitude, poor working conditions, inappreciation of their work, when in fact such employees are the ones who pose a serious challenge to the organisation.

There is thus a constant duel going on between those who are sensitive and those who are insensitive. Sensitivity varies from person to person. Some are disturbed by harsh words, some are very sensitive to the slightest noise, some to smell and so on. Exactly opposite is the case with the insensitive. They do not 'seem' to get affected by harsh words, loud noise, foul smell and so on. Our sensitivity makes us to get angry or depressed or dejected or frustrated.

When things go beyond control many people loose temper. Some end their lives. How to confront the various anger provoking situations is a big question. Many suffer because of their inability to address such situations. This disturbs their mental peace. Mental peace is shattered and replaced with pieces of mind. The challenge of maintaining mental balance is one which needs to be taught in schools, colleges, universities and offices. This will definitely give the mentally upset the tool to digest disturbing situations.

Yog(a) is the union of the mind and body. The role of our mind in controlling our emotions is well studied. That is why when somebody interferes in somebody elses work, the prompt reply is 'Mind your own business'. Many incidences during the day do not merit any consideration or thought. But it is we who get unnecessarily concerned with the various things going around us - probably because we have nothing else to do. An empty mind is a devil's workshop.

If only we can focus on the things at hand, we can remain much more comfortable with ourselves than getting disturbed by things remotely concerned with us. There are some who imagine things and get disturbed. That means they themselves disturb themselves with an internal irritant.

But when the irritant is an external factor and not caused by oneself then it is better to ignore it. Ignoring helps many a times.

There are situations where personal welfare or the society is threatened by external factors. These need the interference of the government. This is when the law enforcing agencies and judicial systems must exercise their role expeditiously in the favour of the society. Only then will the 'insensitivity' in the society see a drop. The 'free for all' situation should go away at the earliest. The government has an important role to play to make the country 'for the people'.