Thozotolu | Dimapur
Okay, so while waiting for Mom, I was sitting in the lobby at Zion hospital... keenly examining the idiosyncrasies of the folks. Two women were sitting next to me. They both were chewing pan; they were good friends, obviously. One woman had a piercing voice – like ring of the telephone and had a shocking colorful top on. The other woman had reddish hair, also cranky and whiny. From comments they dropped, I gathered they both had a few kids each and were from well off families’ – political background of some sort. I admit that I eavesdropped, blatantly. I had to hold myself back from taking out a pen, then and there, to record the whole thing. I will list the facts here, as in. Here’s what they said: “This hospital is hopeless,” said the woman in the colorful top. “Exactly, don’t even remind me” responded the woman with reddish hair. “The charges are positively robbery, that’s what it is! The doctors are hardly in. Ayalaha, here comes the sweepers again, why do they have to sweep and mop the floor every 10 minutes? Who will want to come to this hospital, we better go find a finer one.” Then venom continued oozing out from their souls. In spite of the eyes being bugged out about a mile, I had to restrain myself from leaning over and saying “WHAT? You’ve got to be kidding! I have been listening to the whole thing.” Hilariously negative but yes, giggle potential is everywhere.
From what I could gather on that all too typical August Dimapur afternoon, here is the situation: Well, duh! Let’s face it – we should be thrilled and pleased that something like Zion hospital has finally come to our own town – well equipped with latest technologies, peaceful and “very” clean environment, competent doctors and well-groomed attendants, cafeteria reasonably priced, open space for evening walks – with service at it’s best.
That night I found myself looking up the meaning of “Attitude” in the dictionary. It says this, “Way of thinking or feeling about someone or something.” This was news to me. At that point, I realized just how flawed, shortsighted and negative our outlook is! We just have to open our ears and we will find that complaining/negative talk is an integral part of most people’s daily exchanges. I will use my pen as an echo or which’ll reflect the real picture of Naga society.
In all honesty, we cannot pass our own ignorance to the good and kindness of others. We have an inclination to speak maliciously against each other. We have acquired the habit of barking at each other harshly. We are very well versed in whining and complaining compulsively. Encouragements seem to be in short supply these days. We are skilled in bringing out the worst in others – cynicism and pessimism at its best. We are aware that dragons are best known for what comes out of their mind. At times, their mouths are flamethrowers, other times, the heat and smoke are not apparent, but the noxious gas does the damage. Now, that is what we are to one another.
Let us use our imagination for a minute. Imagine that you are an administrator of a school. What kind of teachers would you choose to work with? I believe you would rather work with a lesser skilled employee who has a good attitude than that one who is higher skilled with a bad attitude. Apparently, people want to work with and be around someone who has a positive glow around them. Bad complainers are annoying at best, depressing at worst and negative personalities tend to drag everyone down.
It will require a great deal of work to unlearn all the habits and thoughts we have assimilated until now. There are actually a number of ways to recondition a negative thought pattern. The basic idea is to replace the old pattern with a new one.
Sometimes due to our own insecurities and shortsightedness, we say things that hurt others. The fact is, we are too worthy to be upset by someone else or something. Expectantly, this is a liberating statement.
I don’t have an easy answer, but here are my few thoughts. As citizens of Nagaland, it’s about time, we:
* Stop playing philosophers and start seeking the remedy
* Look on the brighter side, think and talk of the good we find in each other
* Crush off egoism, selfishness, pessimism and start contributing to make this society a better place in which to live.
* Start asking, “What can I do to make things better?”
* Flush out all old, tired, worn out thoughts and redirect our minds to something more productive and fruitful.
* Stop sticking the tongue out at others from the back, stretch our imaginations and look beyond once believed limitations.
* Remove ‘but’ from our vocabulary and come up with innovative solutions.
* Stop being too quick to judge, label, or form rigid opinions of others and keep ourselves constructively occupied.
* Ward off “I am better than thou” attitude and start proving ourselves
* Start seeing things from another point of view and put the glasses of life on
All said and done, a change in a person’s action and attitude is the result of a transformation of the inner life. If we strike a partnership with God, only then can we have a positive impact on our society.
Here is one of the most frequently quoted sayings of Jesus and is often the Golden Rule. It is often paraphrased, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” “So as you change, your society also changes.” Suffice to say that each person can be a catalyst for change in our society by adopting a positive attitude.
