Like the physical requirements of food, water and other things, our souls also require their food. This includes affection, love, respect and sharing the company of each other. Presence or absence of these things greatly affects our feelings and thus the behaviors in life. Now it is not a secret that children who are brought up with proper love and affection of family succeed in developing a sound and stable personality.
These emotions keep us bound to each other and thus we become able to get closer to each other. In fact, these give meaning to our lives. There is a famous saying in Persian that mountains that are giant and grand comparing to humans cannot reach to each other or share the affection but we humans, being very tiny comparing to them, can no doubt come very close to each other and that is why we have been entitled to be 'The Best of Creations'.
But the supplements of love and affection are not needed only by children, or its importance does not decrease with maturity. Our souls need these till our last breath. Luckily, these emotional gifts are not to be bought or not that there is any discrimination in supply of these for rich and poor.
When we go to a picnic or any other interesting journey, we call it to be very memorable or unforgettable. We describe and recall every moment of it and cherish our souls with the sweetness of it later on. But a picnic is termed unforgettable only because there we enjoyed the greenery, the food and beautiful environment in the presence of people with whom we were emotionally attached. These may be our friends, family members, work colleagues, or classmates or others. Suppose, we are asked to go for a picnic or a most wonderful journey or to one of the best tourist spots all alone, we might turn down the offer the very moment.
Paradise is said to be a perfect place with no worries or difficulties. There everyone would have the life absolutely according to his desires and wishes. But there, as well, no one will be left alone and its dwellers will be provided with a company of the most beautiful. Beautiful palaces made of diamonds, streams of honey and milk and a soothing weather would have faded away had there been no company for a person.
From a psychological point of view, a company of fellow human beings works as an elixir in many different ways. This is the main source of catharsis and thus works as a cleaning factor for the fear, anxiety and other similar impurities being trapped in our emotions and feelings. This gives us a reason to take interest in the world and matters in it and thus we find a meaning to our lives. It works equally in good and bad days. The bitterness of bad days is reduced when shared while the sweetness of good days is multiplied when shared with close ones.
I don't remember much clearly but there are still some sweet memories of my childhood village. Most of these memories are related with senses of smell, vision and hearing. Whenever there is a rain and rain drops fall, the earth releases its scent, the scent that is associated with the muddy streets of villages. Still, some sounds take me back to those good days. These are the sounds of running water, falling waterfall, rustling leaves of trees and grass and of course the silence of the streets of village in the hot summer afternoons.
The green and beautiful color of grass, trees, plants and fields still refresh the mind whenever remembered.
Winters were usually severe and cold. But we all children liked it because of another reason. This was the stories that our grandmother used to narrate in cold and long winter nights, all gathered around a covered fire called 'Sandali'. Outside snow fell down slowly and gradually and the darkness and silence tightened its grip to the surroundings. The stories with this scenario made a strange effect; we used to forget our surroundings. We found ourselves travelling in old times, among old people, the wizards, witches, kings, princes and princesses and so on. The taste that we drew from those stories was absolutely perfect and intimidated all our feelings.
I don't know if our elders knew this or not but these stories were not meant only to amuse the children. These performed two major functions; one that served the present and other that served the future. Most important was the reason that served the present. It was to have a feeling of belonging to one another. To listen to one another, to support each other's souls and to send an unseen signal; that we are all here and nobody is going to be alone.
Though these were the stories, they always gave an indirect message to the children; the message of all those good virtues and lessons that are universal. These included uprightness, being kind to others, being honest and remain hopeful in all the conditions and many more.
Modern technology has no doubt brought a lot of comfort to us but our misuse has also created so many problems. In cities, I often come along with a group of young men. They have assembled at a place to enjoy each other's company. But the love and affection that they should share with each other is divided by some other things.
One is busy in checking Facebook on his mobile phone; another is playing a game on his mobile phone while others are also busy in more or less the same way. These gadgets act as barriers stopping the communication of human feelings from a person to another. Rather, some of the feelings are stealthily held by these things and we feel ourselves to be empty.
Our present generation is indeed lucky to live in the time of knowledge and advancement. We live in a time that is the result of the hard work, sacrifice and contemplation of many of the generations. Our time is replete with knowledge and information. We can utilize them to bring betterments in our lives and of the people around us. But when we talk of people, the first requirement is getting close to them.
We will have to give time to each other, we will have to try to transfer the whole of our feelings to our loved ones and we will have to be more courteous to the time and company of each other. In this regard, we will have to take a forward step. Let's take this step before all our feelings are frozen and we start living with gadgets only.