President’s Message
HUMAN INTERACTION IN 2021
Dare I say that relationships and human interaction have evolved drastically in the past few years? What was considered the norm and good manners are passe and old school. In the good old days, like my father said, “Your word was your bond and reputation. It could either pave pathways for you or would be your social demise”. Today, however, things are different. Its “cool” to have an indifferent attitude towards everything leaving a majority of us utterly confused. Let’s draw a few comparisons, shall we?
In the good old days, if you liked a lady you courted her with flowers, chocolates, drives and dinner. You always picked her up and dropped her back, all the while opening doors and dropping the occasional compliment leaving her blushing like a rose in bloom. You made your intentions very clear and if she liked you back you went to her father and asked for her hand in marriage. Simple right? I thought so. Today, on the other hand, you have to stalk a person on social media, be careful not to ‘like’ a picture from too long ago, slide into her DMs, so to speak, with a cheesy pick-up line hoping she responds. Or the timeless class, walk up to a girl in a bar and ask her for her number. She gives you the number and you call her the next day. Right? WRONG! You have to wait three days and then call her so as to not seem too eager. Dating in today’s generation comes with a list of rules that evade common sense – God forbid you opened a door for a lady, because #feminism but if you didn’t pay for dinner, are you even really a man?
Another example: don’t keep messaging her, being aloof a.k.a. breadcrumbing her, will keep her wanting more. Then, on the flip side, the girl plays hard to get and doesn’t respond immediately either. So delayed responses and games ensue a never-ending battle of attraction. But my question here is this: how is population on the rise if there is an obstacle course of social norms to jump through?
Technology hasn’t made relationships of any kind easier. We are more connected today than at any other time in history, but we are the least communicative now. Think about it. How many times do you message someone instead of them calling up because you don’t want to have a long-drawn conversation filled with small talk? Mind you, most of the time you really aren’t doing anything pressing. Hmmmmmm, bizarre!
Covid hasn’t aided this situation either. The current generation has turned into a bunch of technological hermits. It’s a miracle we still talk to our children while at the dinner table. It’s an even bigger miracle that the younger generation hasn’t forgotten how to talk altogether considering they text each other SITTING IN THE SAME ROOM.
But as Covid comes to an end (and hopefully soon) and we slowly and eventually do meet in person, us old folk will rejoice meeting our fellow comrades, share a few laughs over a drink or three and maybe, just maybe, teach these younglings what a human connection is actually all about.
Framroze Mehta
President