If you notice the behavior of people belonging to the modern developed countries especially in Western Europe and America, they seem lost and frustrated with what life has to offer even though the world talk of the great strides made in the field of science, technology, economy and the material gain. As a result more and more people from the west have started to look to a more humble and simple kind of living, one that is close to nature and tradition of the past. So what is the lesson for us in a place like Nagaland? If we look around us we should start acknowledging the fact that God has been very good to us. We have been blessed with good land, plentiful resources, salubrious climate, vibrancy of our culture and the age old wisdom of our tradition. But we often forget about the blessings and instead of making the best use of what we have, we clamor for more of material gain and the consumption lifestyle of the west, especially the rich and famous.
When the industrialized countries are looking to learn from the values of the older, traditional cultures, it is strange that the reverse is happening here. The unsustainable, power-worshiping, consumption-oriented values of western society are so strongly propagandized by television, films and advertising that they sweep aside the wisdom of older societies. Today, Naga society seems to be adopting values, fashions, and standards of behavior presented by the mass media of western society. It is unfortunate that we are blindly aping the west.
We need to reverse this negative trend taking place. It is not just about the unhealthy lifestyle of the west but we are also being influenced by such ideology that might is right as witnessed in the endless violence, wars etc.; the inequality and the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots. The recent happenings in our State and around the world whether it is corruption, violence, social upheaval etc. is a worrying sign for our common future. It is also indicative of the fact that we as human beings devoid of ethics have become grossly materialistic and our only aim in life seems to accumulate more and more wealth and power leading to spiritual bankruptcy. This malaise is not confined to our politicians’ alone but has even affected our social and religious organizations. As Wordsworth aptly lamented this state of affairs by saying that the modern man is daily going farther away from the sacred and his desire is to accumulate maximum material gain. And with this aim, like a machine we are busy day in and day out in our power struggles.
Instead of being public servants or their leader we have become mere mercenary and have forgotten our God given responsibility. Being a Christian State we have failed to live accordingly. The Bible teaches us that Man does not live by bread alone. Accumulation of wealth is not the sole aim of human life. A balance has to be there because a life given to too much emphasis on securing material gain is its very negation. According to John Ruskin, the greatest wealth of a nation is the happiness of its people. But going by the wealth of a few, a majority of people are surely unhappy and this is not a good sign. Corrupt money certainly cannot bring prosperity and happiness to society. Hegemony cannot foster fraternity or the equal respect for one’s rights. Indeed democracy, another western import, has failed to bring happiness and the good life to the majority of people. Its credibility is in doubt because it has not solved the problems of the people—peace, security, roads, electricity etc. We need to therefore become less obsessed with everything western and start to look at our indigenous wisdom and knowledge which has the answers to many of the ills we are faced with in this western induced existence.
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