After finishing my previous article I was overwhelmed with the feeling of gratification and pride for having been born in such a fast-paced and goal oriented generation, but this feeling was very short lived .As the comments started pouring in I had stop and think over few of them: and one in particular which said that I had not focused on the loss of happiness and its pursuit.
Not once had I used the term happy or happiness in it. Why did I not think of it? Why was it that only some people thought about it? Has happiness become such a trivial issue that a majority does not even bother about it?
These thoughts had not subsided for a few days, until I attended a lecture on the BCG matrix. As the lecture went on there was a point which stated “never let a product move over to the dogs region”, I had an epiphany – OUR LIVES HAV GONE TO THE DOGS!!! That one line answered all my questions.
The dogs in the BCG matrix are products with a low share of a low growth market. They do not generate cash for the company, they tend to absorb it. Basically they are just dogs!!! Like the “dhobi ka kutta” (for more information on the BCG matrix visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth-share_matrix:\)
When a product slides into the dogs region it is usually withdrawn from the market or in rarer circumstances it is redesigned .The redesigning too doesn’t usually generate favourable results .So the safest bet is generally withdrawal from the market.
But this is life, it cannot be withdrawn!!! We have to redesign it and it has to be successful.
When it comes to life, how does a dog turn into a cow?
This question cannot be explained by evolution or any mathematical law nor can physics explain it as a matter of fact no science can explain it. Nor can we simply assume that a dog will give birth to a cow (cash cow) out of mutation.
Hell!!!!
How did we even get here??
In the present scenario- the distance between the countries has shrunk but the gap between the hearts of people has drastically expanded. We can now reach any country in a matter of hours but do we reach out to people? Do we really care?
The standard of living and the quality of living has gone up but the moral values and ethics have been slaughtered at one level.
Treatments have increased but so has the number of diseases. The mortality rate has come down but how many of us are really living??
Success and achievements have taken up the front seat whereas happiness has flown the co-op.........
The advantages of our lifestyle and our orientation towards life and our inclination towards success are endless but it comes with its own shortcomings and it is high time we realised those. We need to shift now, maybe to a little safer option which does not take us this far away from ourselves, our very sense of being.
Slow down a bit-we have to live our life not turn it into a perfect résumé which is going to make us a more and more desirable candidate to be employed.
Do a bit of charity-connect to the human kind, take up a cause (not just on facebook). Look at the smaller things in life, enjoy nature, and admire the weather (not just curse the rain for ruining your plans).
And above everything get in touch with your inner self-figure out what you really want and give yourself a chance to be happy, at least once in a while.
Maybe it is not too late after all. Maybe we can still turn this dog into a cow defying all the laws.
-Sumaiya .A. Shah
