Current Times, People and Other Things !!

1.
Anand chose to become a teacher because that was the only profession which gave him a chance to study. Coming from an economically weaker background he had to give up his graduation in first year. As a teacher he went on to complete his post graduation. He was thankful to his profession which gave him life, he spent his entire life teaching. He never moved on to any other lucrative professions, he loved what he did. His heart swelled up when he found his students excel in the world. He derived a sense of being from teaching. He lived a teacher, died one.
2.
Swathi still remembered the days when she went empty stomach to school. Those days when his brother gave her his part of the food, because she was still hungry. She remembered how she did odd jobs at her teacher's house to learn music. She went on to become one of the Who's who of the music world. She traveled the world spreading her mellifluous voice.
Now her doctor advised her not to sing, "Your health doesn't permit you to stress your voice", she was told. She rubbed aside all the concerns and continuous to sing her heart out. "Without this I don't see a point in life"
3.
Srinath worked for the public services department, he was known for his reputation for being one of the most honest officer. He would go to any extent to get the work done. "How foolish is he, had it been anyone else they could have minted millions", people laughed at him. It didn't matter to him, all he knew was he wanted to do justice to his job every day. In his fifty years of life, there was not a single day when he had taken leave. In sickness and health he was dedicated to the poorest of poor, to make things better for them.
To any one born post 1970s all the above stories seem to idealistic and impractical. And hence we belong a different cohort, what I'd like to call "The cynical Generation". If we go on to examine this cohort further it is characterized by:
It doesn't understand the words dedication, commitment: The intention is not to say that they do not have a goal but to say that the goal is very volatile. In the first story, any one belonging to the cynical generation would have taken up any other lucrative profession. "Ofcourse it makes a lot more sense, it is not that Anand always wanted to be a teacher. That time demanded it and later on he should have moved on. He was unnecessarily emotional", they would say.
It is driven by calculations: The Cynical generation is very clear in terms of what it wants. Now the professions are chosen based on how much money they bring back home. "At the end of the day work is to get the pleasures of life, if not for that what is the point". The idea of deriving purpose from work seems unnatural. "Work, it is unavoidable"
It is ruthlessly practical: So what is wrong with practical? The biggest problem is that we dream in the set boundaries. Only in this generation could we have poverty even in politicians. It is only normal because this is how the thought process goes " Has any normal person ever become a politician, can we sustain. It is foolish even to attempt. Waste of time" I'd rather chose something achievable and do well. The romantic view of effort being able to achieve anything is lost. "Let us be practical, all these things sound good in stories" and hence we no more hear the rags to riches stories.
Increasingly uncomfortable with self: Only for this point there is no need to compare to the previous generation. The love for loudness, gregariousness which doesn't give time to think is the pick of the day. Try staying alone for a week and one would realize how uncomfortable we are with ourselves.
It avoids taking a stand: Ideologies and Ideas moved the world once upon a time, now one would rather sit on the fence and say it doesn't matter to me.
The idea of this post is not criticize the current generation or eulogize the yesteryears. It just intends to make an observation.