How Modern Times Have Changed Our Mindset and the Impact of Wealth, Fame, and Materialism on Modern Relationships
By Hilal Lone
Education, once a rare privilege, has now become commonplace in modern times, bringing about profound changes in the mindset of people. As we reflect on the relationships of our ancestors, when only a select few in society were educated, it becomes clear that stark differences exist between the relationships of then and now. The pursuit of wealth, fame, dowry, and material possessions has eroded the virtues of sincerity, love, agreement, and trust that once defined human connections. Education: From Privilege to Commonplace
Before, people were poor and simple. Their desire was to fulfill the rights of relationships with love and simplicity. They were not in the race of false show, extravagance, and greed. This simplicity in societies kept the sincerity and love for each other alive. The worldly pleasures, false show, greed for wealth, and dowry were the main reasons to destroy sincerity and love in relationships.
The change for worldly adornments and greed for wealth changed the faith for lovers with the passage of time. Relationships, which are completely filled with true faith and sincerity and simple in nature, those relationships are strong as rocks and lush green as fertile soil. The success, love, sincerity, and faith make other relationships stronger and lovable, happy, and adds life to them as well.
Due to the strength of those relationships, all the people get love and respect for each other. As a result, in the turban of those relationships, all the affected people somehow move forward in concern for each other’s goodness and well-being. If there may arise any difference in opinion, they try to clear their conscience soon.
If we talk about decades or centuries ago, at those times, there were feelings and empathy in the relationships. It is true that most of the people were illiterate, but the elders of the societies were sincere, truthful, and God-fearing, who used to maintain peace and tranquility of their areas with the help of their wisdom and little knowledge. Their justice was a blessing for the people.
The most important thing was that people used to respect the elders of their societies, which always protected that illiterate population from going astray. This is why heinous crimes were not observed in those times despite having high illiteracy, poverty, and hunger among the people. The justice and God-fearing decisions prevented uneducated people from the disease of jealousy and revenge. Those elders were aware of close-door neighbors and aware of the circumstances.
They were their lawyers and jurists. This is why matters were solved at the earliest without giving more chance for growing hatred in the relationships. The modern times Panchayat Raj system in our age-old governing system to govern the people for their peace and well-being. This is why things have drastically changed everything, and in minutes, prosperous relationships turn into ashes. Within no time, people become big customers of justice in the chambers of the judiciary. People who were once loved ones and sincere to each other turn into enemies. Both sides, people try to bury the truth, and as a result, after years, the judiciary fails to avail truth. People spend much precious time waiting for decisions of the court.
On the other hand, in ancient times, people were quite simple, straightforward, and true-hearted. They used to compete with each other in hard work and sacrifice and were not caught in worldly adornments. In modern times, the disease of greed has polluted the hearts and minds of the people.
In ancient times, people of sincerity and good intentions used to deal with love, sincerity, and always be ready to help each other, due to which people used to be sweet and strong. The bitterness of poverty had almost made people empathetic towards each other. If any conflict arose, they used to reconcile after minutes.
They used to jokingly abuse each other, but they were not practicing the evil of backbiting or attacking someone’s reputation behind their back. It revealed their true and cleanliness of hearts. On the contrary, in today’s era, it is often seen that most people show a different attitude at the back and front. When their backbiting comes to light, it destroys everything and proves the fakeness of the relationships. Those relationships impact other relationships, which ultimately results in people involved in the relationships suffering from mental and heart diseases with the passage of time.
Modern education has brought changes in the attitude of people as well. It is an undisputed fact that in modern times, on one side, helping others is called humanity, and on the other side, it is felt as shame. All the people in society advocate for their own rights and selfishly ignore the rights of others. In the pursuit of self-esteem, people become selfish.
The deception of adorning the body is called wisdom and is highly appreciated. What has prevented modern people from cleaning their hearts? What has prevented them from responding to evil with good?
There was a time when people were suffering from poverty and hardships, which made them strong, courageous, and empathetic. Greed was little and wealth was distributed very less. As a result, sincerity was maintained in the human hearts. Relationships were valued.
Unfortunately, in modern days, wealthy relationships are much valued only if luxuries are enjoyed in them. Rising inflation is a growing concern in modern days, which has ruined the social and economic life of people. Not only that, it has greatly impacted our relationships. Because modern relationships are based on money and glamour. If we look at reality, this era is more destructive than what we perceive as progress.
Accept the opinions of religious scholars instead of psychological opinions of friends and foes. Seek knowledge instead of worldly pleasures and pretensions. Do not spoil relationships in the illusion of wealth and worldly show.
Where there is no simplicity, trust, truthfulness, and sincerity in the relationship, the lifespan of relationships is short. Big temptations arising due to the desire for worldly pleasure, love for materialistic things, and false show ultimately germinate seeds of ego and insecurity into the hearts of both sides of the people and can definitely destroy human lives.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of this newspaper. The author can be reached at [email protected]
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