Lockdown Diary Of A Teenager: Learning the value of simple joys
Post the pandemic, will people start to love each other more and will we give up our casual outlook towards time and the environment?
Ever thought that getting groceries and a few treats of your choice in the market would be a blessing? Well, I’m sure we all have noticed that the lockdown situation has exactly brought about such a phenomenon! Gone are the days when we would be out and about, surfing the malls aimlessly; simply neglecting the value of this privilege. However, now, the word ‘mall’ has become unheard of, and so has ‘social gatherings’. Will the lockdown really transform people’s attitudes towards life; its significance and preciousness? Will we all start to love each other more and give up our casual outlook towards time and the environment? I cannot answer that for sure, but one thing that this unfathomable situation has taught me is — hope.
It is true that it is inherent human nature to always go after what we don’t possess. Whether they be materialistic things, wealth, success, fame, or love. It is from this characteristic that stem the depravities of greed and the idea that we humans, only realise the value of things when we no longer have them. Buddha had said that the only way to gain Moksha and be free from the inscrutable kind of suffering, was to give up greed, but in this day and age, more entails more, bigger is better and money is to spend.
A few weeks earlier, if you had asked me whether outings with my friends or frequent indulgences in restaurants was a novelty, I probably would have laughed at you. However, the tables have now turned, and I find myself being laughed at by God. He laughs, or rather looks down at me with shame over my insensitivity and sheer lack of acknowledgement. It makes me see that while I have learnt how to consume things, for the longest time, I haven’t opened my eyes and taken a look to value it.
One wouldn’t be able to admit to themselves about how selfish they have been but I’m here to tell you that this coronavirus crisis provides us an opportunity to reform ourselves. I see the changes since lockdown in myself in subtle ways. Each day is a new discovery, a new journey to discover something new about myself.
For instance, a few days ago, it was my mother’s birthday. Obviously, the only form of celebration possible was to bake a cake at home, play a little music and at most order a pizza or two from delivery. To my surprise, my father ordered us our favourite chocolate cake from a place that fortunately still happened to be delivering. Just looking at the perfectly decorated cake at the centre of the table amidst our home-made dishes brought a smile to everyone’s faces. Each slice of cake was devoured with the utmost joy and respect for the workers working in the hotels to provide us this little sense of happiness in this grim time. Yes, my mother didn’t get any fancy handbags, presents or a fancy dinner on her birthday. But what she did get, was satisfaction from devouring that piece of cake that was absent in the majority of her previous birthday celebrations.
Window shopping, ordering something from Amazon without a need and splurging on redundant goods may have been the pre-Covid way of life, but I want to believe that we have overcome that. Deriving pleasure from the simplest things in life has taught us a value that we had all discarded somewhere along the way: remember to value the things in life, rather than remembering its price tag. The price of a commodity will change, but sentiments attached to it will remain constant forever.