TODAY -

Tacitly tacit

Zena Singh *



Spirited and love of all things BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL throwing a care to the wind is who I am, loving sunshine and well lit rooms passionate about passions…upbeat and positive..always seeking for the brighter side of things and people. I represent those who love exactly the same things I do.

Today however, I choose to represent that side of those whose voices are mostly left unvoiced …smothered to silence, for fear of being looked upon with disdain and regarded 'strange'.

It's not a feeling nor a sense, or at least I'd say, not anymore because it is fought down and stifled. ..quickly becoming extinct…. A numbness creeping in toward the word…is it to be avoided or faced…blocked out is best… and yet it sticks ....

LONELINESS ...

...remains only a word .. a remark..a declaration. A term becoming extinct. Is it a good thing or bad..? So afraid and fearful of it, we block it out avoiding it altogether, for ourselves as well as for others. Has it become an utterance evaded for fear of being rejected and looked down upon ?

Are we afraid to be associated with someone who may be trying to reach out, out of his/her lonely world because we don't want to be weighed down with a clingy individual who might become a burden to our so called 'freedom' ?

No friends to call in to say -

"Hey there! let me spend time with you..... I know you might be busy, but why don't you take a break let me pitch in for the day ?"

...OR

" I know I won't get much of a response from you but let me talk and make you feel good...." ............"Allow me to pamper you or just plain spoil you...."

OR a simple, yet meaningful

" How ARE you today ?

I think we have all reached a point in time and an age where none of us has time for ourselves let alone to do the least for someone else.

I AM BUSY.

BUSY !! a very commonly POPULAR word that we have attached on ourselves to sound very up to date and important. That seems to have become a common fad, a fashion status to sound very important, lest we are considered good for nothings ! One could be busy doing nothing at all, yet considers oneself a busy person.

Busy running toward a goal.... Its purpose ?? To prove to be better. Better in Status. In Financial success. To be 'Doing very well' ! Better than someone else!

Interactive technological devices take up so much of our time that we are desensitized to this emotional state called loneliness. There's always the internet to keep us company is what the mind has been trained and tuned to believe, so much so that we are accustomed to not having human companionship, and instead strain forward to the new smart 'bestie', the android screen .

Have they really, truly come to our rescue-the likes of FACEBOOK & WHATSAPP ?

The once homogenous nature of humans is a fast dying one, from social creature to loner. Electronic communication has fast become the only source of console when lonesomeness sets in.

We turn to this outlet and connect, but then again, a point to be considered is, is this for friendship's sake or a forum where we voice our points of view and swank, boast and showoff or check the who's who and selectively choose who we want to keep in touch with or not ?

Often heard, is the whine about 24 hours not being time enough, yet we easily give up sleep to stay up night after night after night whiling away hours with the gadget that takes us around the globe in seconds giving us our hearts desires.

A sneak peek into the mind of one who may be lonely and longing for someone, anyone, who may be able to look within; crying out with every breath for a form of understanding of the gnawing pain. Unable to ask for help because the other person is unconcerned or simply oblivious, unaware even of the slightest sign of the deeper need of another.

Sensitivity to another's need seems to be missing.

Suicides bring about a condemnation. It is condemned by law and religion, shunned, disdained, condescended. If only we took the time to LISTEN with our hearts to that someone. The feel of not being understood or have anyone who cares enough to just be there is usually the driving point.

I am no professional to mention solutions, yet looking within I'd say for someone out there who may be utterly lonely, It's lonely for want of just someone who looks within you to understand what you really are feeling.

Often it isn't easy for the other to explain the reason or form of lonliness to tell another.... It is when someone is LONELY in the true sense of the term...

no one around to understand or care enough to try to understand another... that one is driven to a point. People discuss those who cannot speak as objects... can they understand ??? Oh does she /he do this does she/he feel ????? and we raise our voices and speak to that object... lest she/he is deaf and perhaps have to be woken to their senses....

WHY ? Man was created with a reasoning, and with emotions, with a reasoning to figure out things to find solutions.. ..emotions to understand the feelings of another with empathy not just sympathy. Then why does the company of the faithful dog, who has no reasoning perhaps or solutions, feel so calming just when it sits beside you with no words but a lick of the hand or a nuzzle ?

That dog has sense enough to be protective over child or the person with disabilities, enough to know that she/he cannot protect herself/himself. The dog then instinctively takes charge of being around when other strangers are there .

It then guards not allowing them to even touch the disabled. If this creature of God can use its instinctive powers, who then are we, much higher creatures of God, to numb ourselves of any form of feeling ?

Outdated would be the once popular lyrics sung by Simon & Garfunkel... "you just call out my name and you know wherever I am I'll come running..... "replacing it with... You just type out the word and you know whatever it is, it'll BE THERE.... Yes it will, you've got a friend .."... in a smart phone.


* Zena Singh wrote this article for The Sangai Express
This article was webcasted on May 22 2022.



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