Going to school and college makes one a literate…but does it necessarily make one educated?? No, in my opinion.
I have many reasons to say so….but I would highlight only one area that has touched me too much…..and that is the opinion and practice of being environment friendly.
How did I start getting into the active environmental friendliness… I started in early school days. We cousins together vowed that we would not burst crackers for Deepavali as it was causing a lot of pollution. We decided that we would spend more money on clothes or eatables rather than crackers. This was just the beginning. This was not taught to us. We did this voluntarily…..this I say comes from being educated.
My sister and I went on to avoid usage of plastic bags. We forced our parents to carry shopping bags always with them. We frowned when they forgot. We did not waste paper. We used all the one side used papers for many reasons. We tried our best to do our part. Again…I call this good education.
I went on into the professional world…here I started using my own ceramic and then steel mug for drinking water and coffee….just to avoid the paper cup usage. I always carried a hanky and tried minimizing the usage of hand tissues….
But all through this journey I have gone through a lot of ridicule….sometimes to such a level that it has left me feeling sorry for myself.
I have been made fun of for carrying around a mug of my own…..but the best part is now my office themselves provide ceramic mugs for everyone as opposed to paper glasses…..
People always wanted to be like anyone abroad….we always compared the facilities that were given to us with our counter parts who were in the Europe….but when I mentioned that all offices abroad never used paper cups and they were very careful about how many papers they printed..people thought I was stupid…. I still wonder why.
When I dint use tissues to wipe my hands and instead used my hanky…people said…”oooo…look at that…no tissues it seems…ha ha haaa”… I still don’t find it funny….I have no idea still why it had to be laughed at.
When I told people that we can carry shopping bags instead getting plastic covers, I was told that it is impossible….come on…..people have all sorts of crap in their bags….make up, chocolates, unwanted papers and so much more….cant we keep one bag folded nicely and pushed inside? I can’t believe it… it is all a matter of practice.
The best part is this….people have become so lazy that even if you say that every cover taken would be charged extra…people just don’t mind….they prefer paying money for new plastic bags rather than carrying their own bags.
I have been ridiculed so badly when I tell people not to throw waste on the road…especially non biodegradable…on the roads in the trains….in public places…
Dint these people go to schools and colleges?…of course they did….its just that they dint get educated…they got literate
But this is the same lot that behaves itself when sent abroad….complains about how India is still not as good as Singapore….
These are the people solely responsible for India to be as it is today…otherwise we could have progressed 10 times more.
We blame the illiterate population….believe me…if the complete literate population turns to be educated and follows some ethics of environmental friendliness….everyone else also will follow suit.
You got to practice something before you preach it….the literate population of India has only about 20% that thinks in the right direction of the environment
People can follow small things like carrying bags around…not throwing litter on roads…..only if they believe that it is problem. To do that…they need to be educated…and not just literate.
This is true for youngsters and older people.
I ask the older generation a question….
in India we have a very close knit culture…the family is very important. A father makes sure that his children’s future is secured. All sorts of policies like insurance etc are in place to support the child in future….and then once the children grow up and get married…they are still worried about grand children….they get them what they want and make sure they are taken care of….and they would do this if they are given a chance even to their great grand children…..
Don’t you think the environmental protection is also necessary for your children and grand children and great grand children to survive? Don’t you think you must protect that also?
You make property and money for children….what about this? Have you ever thought about it? I think this is something the older generation needs to understand.
There must be awards and medals given to people in the country who come up with more environmental friendly stuff….that is the only way this can be promoted.
I know people who wanted to go against somebody…and just to take revenge started using more plastic covers and paper cups just to annoy the other person…..how stupid can a grown up get?
This is where I see that people are just literates and not really educated. Education comes when you can see the right perspective of things. Literacy is there when you can read what is given and simply assimilate it without understanding.
I may be only a literate in many aspects as per the definition that I mentioned….but I am happy to think and know that I am educated as far as the environment is concerned
