Essays from the past : Practicality is now our great idol, which all powers and talents must serve.

In today’s world of cut throat competition every body is running after three things namely; power, wealth and carnal pleasures. These three indulgences have been conveniently named as practical things. Thus a monster who blindly indulges in acquiring them is termed as a practical person; a person who is very important in this world and in fact, people tend to believe, that it is these practical people who are shouldering the burden of entire humanity. It is thus advised to idolize practicality and people like the author believe it should be accepted as a universal religion.
It is true that man needs money and some sort of influence in society so that he can lead a comfortable life. But he should draw a line at point where comfort remains comfort and does not become greed. We have all heard the story ‘How much land does a man need’. In that story the protagonist as a part of a wager was to cover the entire length of land that he wanted to acquire in a day on foot. The amount of land, he needed to spend comfortably the rest of his life, he had covered within the first few hours. But later the monster of practicality made his mind nebulous and he continued running till he died. His dead body ironically needed only six feet of land for burial.
If all powers and talents were to indulge in crass practicality then who will perform the important works like building up of society, development of art, educating the masses etc.
Take for example the teaching profession. Teachers have been traditionally entrusted with the job of educating our young minds, the pillars on which the future of modern society lies. If they start charging exorbitant fees for their services, i.e they become practical then our young impressionable minds will not get molded properly and our social fabric will suffer irreparable damage. Already one can see the effects of practicality swallowing up this noble profession, with opening of coaching centers and prep schools for preparations of various examinations.
Appreciation of art is one virtue that separates humans from animals. Since performing arts and theatre gives little money in a culturally rich and fast becoming practical country like India, many artists have given up art to look for some more practical professions.
In my opinion, running after wealth and power is not an inborn virtue in humans. When we are born we are devoid of any avarice, any malice towards anybody. Slowly and gradually, we are engulfed by the monster of practicality and start leading a life in which we are not happy from the inside; our soul bleeds to death. Therefore these ideas that idolize practicality and call for all powers and talent to endorse and accept it should not be promoted