Ego and greed, nip them in the bud

We weren’t born with greed. In fact, we were oblivious to the functioning of our society when we were born. Gradually we absorbed its standards without any filters. What initially started with wanting a toy, a friend has, our desire to own things grew to “I don’t care if the world stops turning, I need to fulfil my desires”. And now it’s not just a toy anymore, it is money, luxury, dominance and so on. This egotistical behaviour has become so rampant that we often forget about living in a harmony. We just focus on individual development. Society changes at an unbelievable pace, corruption levels are soaring high, family interactions especially between parents and children has dipped.

This issues is two sided; on one hand parents don’t really have time to have a real conversation with their children. Sometimes it is sheer negligence, at others it is a towering workload these days. Also, children seem to value their peers more than their parents. Parental advice is less valued and by the time the child grows us, the iron can no longer be moulded, thus creating a ruptured value system. When this happens, morality comes crashing down. This is the root cause of all the problems that we initially discussed.

A solution to this impending problem lies within the problem itself. Open communication and vigilant parenting is the key. Parents must get their children out of their bubble of oblivion. So next time your child asks you to get them the same toy that your neighbour’s child has, ensure you don’t encourage their greed.

The reader is a student based in Mohali, India