Our character shapes our choices, our choices determine our fate

Two accidents involving two vehicles and three fatalities in each, and Goa is in a state of shock. Death hurts despite being inevitable, and like birth, is beyond the human realm. The extent of the hurt and trauma is largely determined by the manner of death.

The two accidents were in the coming, and perhaps they just signal the beginning of a lifestyle that has been – here and there – showing its face. Many preferred to look the other way or pretend that nothing was wrong.

While it is known that alcohol was the catalyst of the first accident, there is still not much clarity on the second. Though video evidence clearly indicates rash driving.

At the end of the day, as the toll of the dead rises, there is a call in Goa that Uber and Ola should be allowed permission to operate to curb such tragedies. Uber and Ola are two taxi aggregators that operate through apps.

The premise of many is that had the service operators been operating in Goa, people drinking would tend to hire them on their way back from parties or dinners. It is, at the outset, a hypothetical suggestion. 

People in Goa have been going to parties from the beginning, and accidents have been occurring for a long time. Many lives have been lost and will be lost, whether the taxi aggregators are there or not, because the problem, like many others, lies within us.

In short, we are the problem. Our characters are shaped by the indiscipline we cultivate in ourselves. If it happened in the past, it was because our predecessors did the same thing we are doing now.

Drinking and driving is bad not just in Goa but anywhere. Fatalities occur whenever and wherever the two are in tandem. Maybe all do not die when they drink and drive, but they do not just set a bad precedent, they also display an ugly side to themselves.

Politicians and their cronies jump up to point fingers at the government and in the process forget they too are part of the government and part of the malady because it begins at home. Home is one shoot of society that we all are part of.

By trying to blame the government’s indecisiveness in not allowing the cab aggregators to operate in Goa we are simply running away from the truth and by doing so many more accidents will occur and along with them more deaths.

The roads are bad, the police are not doing their duty – the excuses will keep on multiplying and along with them the number of accidents, injuries and deaths. Families are mourning, but once they are past the most of their grief, they should start introspecting.

Goa, compared to other states of India, is supposed to have a high education quotient, and yet we cannot see the picture clearly when it is so evident. The problem is we are getting carried away with increasing affluence. This is why the term nouveau riche sticks out clearly.

Goa is seeing a lot of individuals who are unable to comprehend or prefer not to understand the role of money. Money is definitely to be spent, but the way it is looked at matters. 

Youngsters went to parties in the 70s, the 80s and the 90s. Yes, there were accidents, some fatal but those accidents lacked the arrogance seen in the ones these days.

There was booze then as there were drugs. Although the quality of drugs and booze was different from what they are now. It is the change of mindset that is painfully obvious through actions.

Wealth need not be flaunted. It rarely is, unless one wakes up to find oneself from soil to cushion. This is when things go wrong. Each individual needs to start embracing the virtues of humility and modesty.

Life is simple and best enjoyed when its simplicity is understood. This is the foundation that we need to get back to, and the home is the best place to begin with this understanding.

Let us feel one with the earth and fully espouse living humbly with dignity and staying alive with values and common sense.