Human being and not human doing

Our actions and work are integral parts of our personality. At a very early stage of our lives, we realize that what we do gets us appreciation and recognition. Initially, it is our parents whose recognition and appreciation we crave for. As they applaud and praise each and every small progress as a child, this action and appreciation pattern is set in our minds. Whenever we do something good, we look around to make sure that people are watching so that our good acts don't go unnoticed. Slowly, we start imagining ourselves based on these appreciations and recognitions, we forget that we have existence without these things. Our every act is designed to generate some favorable response from our surroundings. Instead of a human being, we become a human doing, who is constantly doing something so that people around shower some appreciation and praise. In today's social media-infested world this insatiable craving for appreciation and recognition has put us in continuous action mode, we either want to broadcast ourselves or watch someone's broadcast. It seems we have forgotten that we don't need anyone's validation to be happy or to do any good work. We can do good and right things even when no one is watching, rather, when we do right things when no one is watching that's the real test of being human. 

I know that I am not the first one to highlight this. Our never-ending appetite for appreciation and recognition has been a topic of discussion for quite some time now, I am just trying to invite the attention of my blog readers to this topic. Good deeds or decent behavior with the sole intent of getting noticed or receiving appreciation are not good deeds, they are performances like actors deliver on stage or in movies. If you want to help someone, just go ahead and help, don't worry if someone is watching or recording it or not, and don't worry if someone says thank you or a good job or not, you are helping because you want to help, not because someone will praise you. If you want to write a blog, go ahead and write it, don't worry if someone reads it or not. If you want to express your thoughts and feelings, go ahead and express them in a civilized manner, don't worry if the next person reciprocates it or not. We must learn to do things for our own happiness and fulfillment, being kind to ourselves is as important and necessary as being kind to others. This is a simple thing, but most of us forget to practice it. We tend to be harsher on ourselves and our loved ones thinking that this harshness will force us to perform better, we blur the lines between being harsh and being motivational, and this damages many of our close relationships. Being successful matters, but what matters more is at what costs and by using which parameters. This post is not to provide any answers to these questions, but to kindle some thinking in this direction. Answers will be different from person to person, but without some introspection, we cannot find those answers. So, think about it.

Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com