Just a thought
By Geetha Shankar*
I grew up and earned my
trophies, neither the 1st nor the 2nd but more
often the 3rd or the consolation or sometimes a certificate of
participation. I still have those. They mean a lot to me, because I worked hard
and gave my heart out for them. Nothing was "FREE"!
Oh boy…. What a transition I see in a few years..…. Today,
Everyone expects an award just for walking
through the door, or an award just for
showing up and even waking up at 6 AM!. People crave for awards without doing anything
to even demand an award.
How many of us would
say “I did not do anything to win the award and I don’t deserve it. Let someone
who deserves get it”.
The concept of ‘work
extra hard’ and excel at something to get an award or special recognition is
diminishing.
One should demonstrate
that one has really done something great to deserve an award.
Everybody
deserves some recognition, but not everybody can get the same recognition.
This
" I-deserve- an-award"
approach sounds very, very selfish and
it reflects absence of self-esteem.
On
the contrary, I for one very strongly
feel that there should be emphasis right from an early age by parents, teachers,
peers To build that element of self-esteem. There has to be a
paradigm shift from the material perspective of awards to earning respect,
dignity and just having someone say they are proud of you.
I
think we have a lesson or two to learn from the selfless voluntary work that
has poured in during the recent Chennai calamity. That is the level of selfless
work that I am talking about. These are the people who actually deserve awards.
Can Award givers raise the bar?
It’s
for all of us to think – think positively.
I
am nowhere trying to belittle anyone nor am I trying to hurt anyone.
Just
a thought! That’s all, folks!
(*The
author is National Chairperson of YCC and Director – Governing Council, PRCI)
.
