Right Actions > Actions > Words
Swami Gulagulaananda said:
"I often wonder how lighting candles and pulling weird stunts brings about an awareness... Isn't strong action always better than mere demonstrations"
I often see a lot of people protest against something in really different methods - whether it is the conventional method of standing in large numbers wearing white and holding candles, to really weird and unconventional ways sending pink underwear to some groups. What I find funny or confusing is - What purposes do these actions serve?
The latest one to get my cogs turning, is the new campaign that started going haywire on Facebook, where a large number of girls and women started posting random colours on their profiles as status messages with other people coming and liking it, and posting occasional comments. This was getting really confusing for many many guys, and some girls as well. So, finally, the cat was out of the bag. [You can read about it here]
So, if you actually read from that link, you will be able to know what I am talking about. It was about a large number of women who started posting the colour of their bras... The reason? To bring about an awareness of Breast Cancer. I really don't understand how this actually works though. I mean, it is very good that people caught up with the hype and spread it around really quickly, but seriously, there are several much better ways of doing this. I do agree that this was not the original idea of the campaign, etc. but I seem to find the same weird sets of demonstrations going around everywhere.
So, the next time, just think - If I have to spread awareness about Polio, am I supposed to post the colour of my socks? Is this going to really help eradicate the deadly disease from the face of this world? Or is it better to do it the way things are happening right now in India. I really admire this campaign to eliminate polio that is going on right now. Very very effective.
What Swami is trying to say in this entry, is that whenever we get a problem, it is human and natural for a person to feel sad, and thus they may want to show their emotions by lighting candles etc. But what is more important, is to determine how to fix the problem, and get the machinery running. We should have continuous action - I do understand that many times the solutions seem to be not viable due to many circumstances that are beyond our control - Hoever, taking steps such as these don't help anyone... A more efficient way to spread awareness is by posting actually worthwhile material which REALLY brings about awareness... Like asking them to go for check ups periodically, and doing serious reading about it, posting symptoms, or talking to patients and understanding the seriousness of the issue. I honestly disagree with posting colours of undergarments... (or even sending a large number of same coloured ones to a group of people for that matter :P)
"I often wonder how lighting candles and pulling weird stunts brings about an awareness... Isn't strong action always better than mere demonstrations"
I often see a lot of people protest against something in really different methods - whether it is the conventional method of standing in large numbers wearing white and holding candles, to really weird and unconventional ways sending pink underwear to some groups. What I find funny or confusing is - What purposes do these actions serve?
The latest one to get my cogs turning, is the new campaign that started going haywire on Facebook, where a large number of girls and women started posting random colours on their profiles as status messages with other people coming and liking it, and posting occasional comments. This was getting really confusing for many many guys, and some girls as well. So, finally, the cat was out of the bag. [You can read about it here]
So, if you actually read from that link, you will be able to know what I am talking about. It was about a large number of women who started posting the colour of their bras... The reason? To bring about an awareness of Breast Cancer. I really don't understand how this actually works though. I mean, it is very good that people caught up with the hype and spread it around really quickly, but seriously, there are several much better ways of doing this. I do agree that this was not the original idea of the campaign, etc. but I seem to find the same weird sets of demonstrations going around everywhere.
So, the next time, just think - If I have to spread awareness about Polio, am I supposed to post the colour of my socks? Is this going to really help eradicate the deadly disease from the face of this world? Or is it better to do it the way things are happening right now in India. I really admire this campaign to eliminate polio that is going on right now. Very very effective.
What Swami is trying to say in this entry, is that whenever we get a problem, it is human and natural for a person to feel sad, and thus they may want to show their emotions by lighting candles etc. But what is more important, is to determine how to fix the problem, and get the machinery running. We should have continuous action - I do understand that many times the solutions seem to be not viable due to many circumstances that are beyond our control - Hoever, taking steps such as these don't help anyone... A more efficient way to spread awareness is by posting actually worthwhile material which REALLY brings about awareness... Like asking them to go for check ups periodically, and doing serious reading about it, posting symptoms, or talking to patients and understanding the seriousness of the issue. I honestly disagree with posting colours of undergarments... (or even sending a large number of same coloured ones to a group of people for that matter :P)
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