See, hear, but do not speak

At the first look, you may say that I am going to speak about the three wise monkeys of Mahatma Gandhi. Well, I would say, both ‘yes’ as well as ‘no.’ Yes, because I am going to use these three words called ‘see’, ‘hear’ and ‘speak.’ No, because I am going to write about how these three words are misused in the modern world, away from what Gandhiji wanted to preach us. Someone has rightly said that “Every odd is now a style.” Conventional values have taken a back seat. What was a taboo once, is now a thing to advertise and glorify, among the people.

Now let me come to the topic of my write up. “See, hear but don’t speak, if you want to live in peace.” Let’s ‘see’ everything because God has given us a pair of beautiful eyes to ‘see’ the beauties and bounties of His universe. Let’s ‘hear’ everything that is soothing to our ears. But ‘speaking’ requires restrains as we must not hurt others’ feelings by our true but hurting words as truth can be bitter at times! 

Let our minds be ‘open’ as the above cartoon suggests but all that is there in our mind, need not be spoken. If everyone speaks everything one has in one’s mind, then there will be blue murder and mayhem everywhere. So it is advised that we exercise restraint and speak pleasantly. There is a fourth monkey also! It says that we should restrain ourselves in our actions as well! How far we follow these pieces of advice, is anybody’s guess work!

These days, some people are simply doing the opposite, without bothering about its consequences! Rather, they are getting pleasure to ‘see’ the evil things, ‘hear’ the evil deeds and are not hesitating to ‘speak’ evil of others, at the drop of the hat! News channels are competing with one another to vociferously claim their share of public opinion, by spewing the garbage, which should be overlooked, ignored and restrained from speaking. With their fundamental right to see, hear and speak, they are running a virtual court room of trials! 

The father of our dear nation must be turning in his grave and pained to see what his progenies are doing in the name of their so called ‘Freedom!’ One often wonders whether we should “See, hear and don’t speak” or continue our modern trend to allow everyone to say what they wish to say! Have I stirred you enough to cogitate over your choice on this weighty matter of modern life?