Now all the guests had almost come and lunch was going to be served. Room was big and number of guests was anyhow not less than 40. There were different kinds of people among the guests; politicians, government servants, businessmen, shopkeepers, students, and teachers and many others. There were rich and influential among them and most definitely there were poor and weak.
Every one behaved according to his status in the society and everyone was treated accordingly. Those who were rich wanted to make known to others by their haughty and rude manners and thus it looked as if they had worn a mask that depicted a picture which was a blend of rudeness, pride, superiority and other stupid sentiments.
Lunch was served. The host had tried all his best to display his affluence and thus there were a variety of foods on the table. People, as usual forgot their status and politeness for some time and there started a race to catch and keep close the best food. After some time, food was over and thanks to Almighty, we all became normal again. Everyone wore on his face the same mask that had slipped down in the hustle bustle of the food. Then tea came and now people got time to relax themselves as they had got exhausted during the quest for the food.
A very influential and rich person, who was himself a well-known politician, requested the attention of all. He told that we needed to know each other better so from a corner of the room, everyone should introduce himself. He specifically requested everyone to mention his job or profession. This rather painstaking process started which was uplifting the ego of some and harmed and crushed the ego of others. One who had a good job or business introduced himself with a slight air of pride in his tone while one who was comparatively less than others, told about himself briefly and silently and retreated quickly.
It turned out to be a very interesting observation for me. While telling about their jobs, I was able to notice varying colors on the faces of people. Similarly, the tone and level of energy of a person could have been easily noticed. It looked it as if this process was affecting the soul and internal feelings of people and they felt pride or harmed deep from their souls and hearts. Anyhow, this strange introduction came to an end and I felt really relieved when I saw a lot many people relieved as well.
In a society, where people are less educated, don't know the delight of acquiring contentment from achievements which are worth-praising (like books, family attachments and personal and academic improvement) and where money has become the soul standard of the good and bad, such scenes and gatherings are becoming too often visible.
In old times, people were valued and given importance who either had good education, or had a family background or possessed and preserved some unique qualities in their personalities that distinguished them from others. People who possessed above qualities were really sensitive about others feelings and emotions as well and gave due importance to the people around him. Similarly, people were not valued on the basis of their material achievements and thus everyone was contented with what he had in his heart and mind, and not with how much he had in his pocket or farm.
But luckily, everyone is not inflicted with this virus and still there are some people who value qualities and traits that are worth valuing and still there are people who are contented with what they have in their personality, remaining indifferent to what they don't have in their pockets or bank balances.
In our street, there are a number of sweepers who come to their duties, do their jobs with full honesty and are happy and content with the salary they get. Similarly, I see a number of members of our society who are happy with what they are or what they have, and they totally ignore those who want to show off their wealth or high social status to them. In this regard, I really admire children who never, ever think about these things and who laugh and smile and play, kicking aside the status and position and they guide us towards true happiness, in which one remains happy by laughing and smiling, and not by linking the material possessions with the happiness.
This dangerous habit of evaluating people according to wealth and status is depriving us of so many precious things. Now everyone is trying all his best to accumulate more and more money, so that he should be accepted as respectable and important in the society.
A race has started in which people try to buy the respect and importance by buying new and latest cars, high-tech cell phones, or decorating the house and filling it with latest home appliances and furniture. People have lost the concept of fair and unfair money and thus corruption has become as flagrant and blatant as it was never before.
People have lost their values, health and the love and affection of family in this race. Now, people deploy every illegal and unethical way to earn money and the fear of accountability (of this and the world after) has totally slipped out of the minds.
This brutal race has set a strange standard that now in our society, wealthy and high-status people are chosen as leaders and elders, who, in most cases turn out to be really ignorant, ill-mannered and totally void of any kind of personal sensibility and reasonability. That's why, hues and cries rise from every corner that our elders and leaders are corrupt and they are leading us towards destruction and failure. No doubt, until and unless we don't change the criteria to choose the leaders and give importance to the people, we would be axing our own legs by our hands.
People who rise to important positions and seats, be it political or social or official, on the basis of their wealth, are and will always be afraid of people who are having sound characters, good knowledge or other personal qualities because they realize and remember that these people can challenge their status so they keep wearing a mask of superiority in the public. According to psychologists, people who try to show their superiority to others are in fact victims of inferiority complex as they know that they are less from others in standard and acceptable qualities and thus they try to appear superior to others in public.
Because of this heedless race, we have deprived a lot many people of their mental contentment and every day, more and more people are being robbed of their mental peace and satisfaction. I request all the educated and sensible minds and souls to stop this robbery. People can live without a luxurious car, a big house and bombastic title and status, but their souls would wither away if we deprived them of their mental contentment as well.
I would like to conclude it with a very easy solution to the problem. If you are a student and feel being given less importance, or if you are doing a job that is good for you but not given due importance by others and if you are satisfied with what you have in your pocket, brain and personality, you would be the only person uplifting your spirit and sustaining your self-respect.
We need to be upright in our own eyes. If we possess qualities which are truly important to us, we need not to think or care about how people would evaluate us or think about us. At the same time, we would be changing the trend of the society as well.