One of the most paradoxical things about Life in the 21st century is SOCIAL MEDIA.

The more “connected” we are online, the more “disconnected and isolated” we are in real life. People have thousands of ‘friends/followers’ online, but have very few people on whom they can count in times of adversity or even celebration. Depression and Loneliness is at it’s zenith, when even a lesser-than-expected count of likes/up-votes can spoil a person’s mood and make a person question his/her existence and capability!

SOCIAL-MEDIA

We dress to impress,

With brains in a mess,

We eat to tweet and pose to pout,

We travel to post pictures and digitally shout,

We drink and smoke and sniff and dope,

We crib and cry, as if this life has no hope!

{Pardon my successful attempts at bad rhyming 🙂 }

Well, we live in a world where we have more chances of encountering our neighbors on social media than of engaging with them in a voluntary face-to-face conversation. Gone are the days when if a new neighbor shifted in our locality then all people would help in getting them comfortable, serving refreshments like biscuits and namkeen/samosas with piping hot tea/coffee, engaging in warm chit-chats on the very first day like long lost friends.

These days, one doesn’t even think of knocking on a neighbor’s door if out of sugar! {Which was one of the commonest ice-breakers! 😀}

We live in the world of online shopping and free home delivery! 🙂 {for almost everything}

But you can’t order happiness, right?

Or can you?

And is it free home delivery or you got to venture out and toil hard for it?

{Though there sure are conflicting opinions by people who say that – ‘The ones who say money can’t buy happiness, didn’t know where to shop!’ 🙂 }

The thing is, eventually you just run out of things to shop. These ‘things’ you drool over and frenetically so desire, just get bigger and flashier and more expensive… with ‘happiness’ as ephemeral as the lifespan of Mayflies!

Well, as I now understand the pursuit of happiness {which is again Life’s many paradoxes} :-

“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”

Well, there are other contradictory things about Life and Human-Nature:-

• The more available something is, the less we actually want it. (The Law of Scarcity)
• The more you’re afraid to fail, the more likely you are to fail. (Self-fulfilling prophesy)
• The more choices you have, the less satisfied you are with each one. (The Paradox of choices)
• The best way to meet someone else is to not need to be with someone else. (The Paradox of relationships)
• The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. (Courtesy: Socrates)
• If a man says he’s lying, is he telling the truth? (Courtesy: Epimenodes)
• The more something scares you, the more you should probably do it.
• People who can’t trust, can’t be trusted. (The Paradox of Trust)
• The more honest you are about your faults, the more people will think you’re perfect. (The Paradox of Vulnerability)
• When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. (Courtesy: Lao Tzu)
• “And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.” (Erica Jong)
• “If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard. But if you are willing to do what’s hard, life will be easy.” (T. Harv Eker)
• “It’s weird not to be weird.” (John Lennon)

And finally, as Oscar Wilde wrote in Mr Dumby:-

“In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”

— Jatinder Singh , the lousy poet

© Written 22-Jun-2017

{ Image Credit: Happiness Is Like a Butterfly }