The Internet and social media platforms have provided an excellent platform to express and propagate different thoughts and ideas. There are many great ideas and concepts introduced by people from different backgrounds. These ideas are mainly propagated through books, talks, social media posts, or blogs. Most of these ideas have great potential to influence our lives in a positive way. This is why they get attention and recognition from a wide audience pool. Many of these concepts are very well received and people are intrigued to learn about them, but unfortunately, things don't proceed beyond this point.
I am no different, I also get impressed by many talks and books by many thinkers. However, even though these concepts are appealing and sound useful, in most cases, there needs to be some practical guidance on how to use them effectively in our day-to-day life. Without any demonstrated public use people find these ideas and concepts interesting but fail to use them in their real life. The ideas get popular, people introducing them become popular, and we get some new influencers, but hardly anything changes at the workplace, in homes, or in society. Many of these potentially useful ideas (or social and personal tools) remain just ideas that are discussed and debated, but not practiced, and this happens not because people don't want to use or practice them, they just don't know how to do it. That is, without the proper skills to use these ideas, they remain only interesting and appealing theoretical concepts without much practical use. The only positive gain from this process is that the innovators of these concepts get popular they get invitations to deliver talks as these talks motivate people, but beyond that nothing much changes. These useful tools remain in their infancy forever or just remain interesting topics for debates and discussions.
So, how can we change this so that all these ideas or tools are effectively used for the betterment of our personal and social lives? One way is to learn the skills that are needed to practice and implement these new ideas. For example, just saying vulnerability is a strength and not a weakness is not enough, people clap and continue judging anyone showing their vulnerable side. We need to not only appreciate these new ideas but also seriously practice or encourage anyone who is trying to practice them, no matter how uncomfortable or storage we feel in the beginning. As a matter of fact, we are going to feel uncomfortable in the beginning as some of these concepts are completely alien to our society. There is resistance to even a small change that challenges the status quo, imagine the reaction to something radical and new. Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of all who appreciate or introduce these ideas to make sure that they and all others who consult with them are equipped with the required skills to use these ideas. Once again taking the example of vulnerability, it becomes our responsibility to accept and respect when someone displays or shares their vulnerability with us. It is difficult not to judge, but we need to learn the new skill of not judging if we want to change the existing system that is a legacy of patriarchy, misogyny, and racism. Without being equipped with new skills we cannot defeat old social evils that have robust and well-functioning mechanisms to propagate exploitory culture. So, don't just be a cheerleader for new ideas be a practitioner and the agent for the change you want, be that "someone" you always wanted should initiate the change, and be the listener as well as a doer. All the very best.
Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic.
©Vinay Thakur, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com
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