Aarati's Blog

Vitamin ‘m’

“I want to earn a lot of money. I want to be the richest man in the world”. These are very common statements of most of the individuals. But it gets alarming when it comes from a youth ,that to in a workshop on environmental sustainability.

Recently I was addressing students at a  Junior college on the occasion of their environmental awareness event. I asked them to frame simple one liner pledges on how to be a changemaker, by taking some constructive personal action. I was expecting they would mention certain changes in their behavior.

The responses not only shocked me but I was also worried to  witness their obsession with money. After giving a good thought I realized that they can’t be blamed .Throughout the  academic career of our children, we train them to first run behind marks and then run after money. In this rat race, we forget to teach them how to live happily, how to become good global citizens. We don’t take special efforts to make our children sensitive towards their surroundings and society. They may be successful in earning money and marks, but what about their success as human beings?

What happens if they are not able to earn enough Vitamin M? They feel humiliated by their peers or family.  Children today get into depression very easily, mainly because we are not teaching them to face difficult situations of life gracefully. We are busy focusing on science, literacy and numeracy, but what about life skills? Every parent wants their product to be successful in the market.

I am sure we all are struggling to provide the best possible to our children. We will leave behind lots of vitamin M for them, that’s for sure, but what kind of environment are we  leaving behind? It will be a great struggle for them to even breathe fresh air. What’s the use of Vitamin M, if you are terminally ill with environmental cancer?

Money was invented as an aid for the smooth functioning of daily life but today earning money has become the main function of life. A similar situation with Marks. Long ago, exams were devised to give the teacher a measure of how effective the teaching has been, but today we study for exams and our obsession for marks has taken so many lives.

It’s high time that we change our behavior and become role model for our children. Try to be more sensitive towards your environment. Take efforts to conserve natural resources. Take efforts to create a positive environment at home as well. Use vitamin M as a vitamin only. Obsession for anything is harmful. Let your children live their lives to the fullest. Teach them to explore greater things in life but also teach them how to learn from small things in life. 

Learn not to just earn Money and Marks …but to live a happy, fulfilling life, contributing to the well-being of the society .

Related Posts

WHILE WE CELEBRATE WOMEN’S DAY…

Art of Appreciation

Art of Appreciation

Art of Understanding Communication

69 Comments
  • Ley de reformas madrid
    says:

    I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of yourblog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit moreoften. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme?Superb work!

    Reply
  • Ruth Coleman
    says:

    I need to to thank you for this very good read!! I absolutely enjoyed every little bit of it. I have got you bookmarked to check out new stuff you postÖ

    Reply
  • Lucretia Haynes
    says:

    What’s Taking place i am new to this, I stumbled upon thisI’ve discovered It positively helpful and it has aided meout loads. I’m hoping to give a contribution & help different userslike its helped me. Good job.

    Reply
  • cua chong chay
    says:

    I like the valuable info you provide in yourarticles. I’ll bookmark your blog and check again hereregularly. I am quite certain I’ll learn many newstuff right here! Best of luck for the next!

    Reply
  • porn
    says:

    Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing some research on that. And he just bought me lunch because I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!

    Reply
  • Kedarnath Iyer
    says:

    Well said about Vitamin M, but to lead a happy fulfilling life, you need Money. We need to educate our kids the value of Money and be sensitive towards environment and not to waste natural resources. As said the next world war will be fought for Water requirement. Only education from day one and creating awarenes can change the world, a better place to live.

    Reply
  • Shilpa Gaikwad
    says:

    Very True words abt Vitamin M, In Today’s era everyone run behind Money but in this journey they lost so many beautiful moment of their life. And finally they will get only unsatisfied life. Now we miss our true friends, happiness whatever we do because we only earn money not satisfaction or happiness.
    Mam I like ur all articals, A for Art too!!!!

    Reply
  • Shilpa Gaikwad
    says:

    Very True words abt Vitamin M, In Today’s era everyone run behind Money but in this journey they lost so many beautiful moment of their life. And finally they will get only unsatisfied life. Now we miss our true friends, happiness whatever we do because we only earn money not satisfaction or happiness.
    Mam I like ur all articals, A for Art too!!!!

    Reply
  • Deepti Achrekar
    says:

    The write up is absolutely true Aarati..Our children are missing the happiness which can be derived from small pleasures of life.. The whole struggle for material possessions have taken over their thoughts and yes we are to blame for it.. We need to focus on changing the way we raise our kids.. Very well written

    Reply
  • Leslie Rebello
    says:

    Aarthi
    The truth is life is misunderstood. The meaning and purpose of existance needs introspection. Comparison, competition and currupt thought driven by greed is taking over the educated and wise. Living beyond physical and mechanised tolls involving the heart is imperative. Education driven by feelings is the need of the hour.
    Your concept is thought provoking so these few lines.
    Regards

    Reply
  • Pradeep Shindolkar
    says:

    What you are saying is absolutely write, one should not just be money minded..

    But I think, its subjective. The person will look at it according to his past and present needs n experiences. So one cant comment on it. You have mentioned two expressions of the same wish, in the biggining of your write up.
    One says ‘I WANT TO EARN LOTS OF MONEY’ and other is saying ‘I WANT TO BECOME A RICHEST MAN ON THE EARTH’ so one is having a Dream and other is having a Desire… Now both have said it according to their previous and present experiences of their lives so far. Its but natural that whatever we dont have enough, we will run behind it n try to achive it accordingly. That urge of getting it, veries person to person.

    I will tell U one of my incidences.
    My dear mom (May her soul rest in peace) was hospitalised many a times, in her old days. Long back, once she was hospitalised n given a discharged with a huge bill. It was unexpected for us. I was not prepared for that amount n had to run all around d places for d remaining amount. And I finally could manage it in the evening. Till that time, my poor mom was just sitting on a bed with her packed bag. Now what will I think about d money, you tell me.

    I always wish Almighty, to give me lots n lots of wealth, so that I can help not only my family, but, even others too…

    I would not like my kids to compromise in their life, the way I have done so far..

    I know Ur concern over here is,
    to make our youth understand to live life happily.. But the lifestyle around is become their lifestyle
    and for that matter, honestly speaking, even ours too.

    Just take this as an example,
    My kids, the younger one loves to travel by flight n loves to explore differant places. Elder one also loves to explore, but he is ok with any destination, or he is just pretending to be ok, I dont know. (coz he knows that we r still building it) but d younger one loves it n even I would want them to enjoy that, b’coz I have not experienced it, when I was a child.
    But yes, we were ok with what we had, the main reason is, my dad was very strict n he had made sertain boundeies, which now, I try n avoid. But b4 I give them anything, I always smartly make them understand d value of what they are having.

    Once they start with their proffesion, their skills should be able to fulfil there needs n dreams. in short, ‘skills should get converted in a right manner, when it comes to money’.. They shouldnt be doing donkey jobs, That smart balance has to be there… So that they can actually live life happily… ??

    Keep writting, it makes others also to think… ??

    Reply
    • blog@aarti34
      says:

      Thank you so much Pradeep for expressing your feelings on my thoughts. I completely agree with you. My concern is while training our children for this rat race of life , we must also make them aware of their duties towards their environment and towards their own people for a sustainable tomorrow . Otherwise you have all the money but you may not have the right environment, health,resources and your near and dear ones .

      Reply
  • Dr.Srilekha Goveas
    says:

    Very well written Aarti.I can well relate to this since I m surrounded by young adults in my college..it is very sad to see the education system which so much focuses on Marks and there s really no such focus on the most important part ie values and attitude .In our own way ,we in our college, are trying to work on this.
    Your article is indeed food for thought.Have shared it with my colleagues

    Reply
  • DEVENDRA SARMALKAR
    says:

    Dear Aarti…indeed well written and so true…while each one us has a moral responsibility towards the society….the onus lies on us to teach the new generation of conserving life…yes M is not everything in life…. but in the bargain let’s not neglect our responsibility towards the society at large….it’s imperative we parents…. teachers and mentors kip addressing this issue at every possible juncture…let me make the change…God bless

    Reply
  • Siddhartha Desai
    says:

    Happiness is relative and definitions change for every human being.

    Todays generation we have tried to better our own lives than our parents have lived or given us…this constant change in society and upgradation in every aspect of life, is what we call progress. As a parent you will never expect your child to live below a particular status than you have lived. This pushes you to achieve them better in all respects.

    I feel instead of all above thoughts, the most practical though will be teach your children to achieve great heights in whatever they like. When you like your work you enjoy the life..money, happiness etc follows…

    Reply
    • blog@aarti34
      says:

      You are absolutely right. But how many of us are really happy? Along with focusing on the careers they like , we need to also sensitise them towards their surrounding.

      Reply
  • Archana Hemmady
    says:

    Vitamin M has become more like an addictive drug than a life saving drug. Food for thought Aarti, great thought!

    Reply
  • Anjali Hoskote
    says:

    Yes it is so very true. As the ego builds a human being tries to search the happiness outside not knowing that he himself is embodiment of the divine. That is why in Hinduism there r 4 ashramas to be followed in the sequence of, brahmacharyashram, grahastashram, vanprastashram & sanyashram. The first one brahmacharyashram means to do acharan like Brahman ie. Behave like the divine and the divine is peaceful and blissful. The word happiness has a opposite, which is sadness whereas the word bliss has no opposite. All this is happening because everyone is searching happiness and not bliss. Happiness and sadness are two sides of same coin. When we chose one the other will come automatically with it.

    Reply
  • Rupa Duvvuri
    says:

    Very well said. We have to teach children to grow with good values. This includes respecting elders, respecting another person’s opinion, consider animals as co inhabitants on this planet, respecting themselves, bring thankful for this beautiful environment and so on. Goodness begins at home. If they adults around them valuing nature then they will do so too. Good job Arti.

    Reply
  • Aarti Sashittal
    says:

    Absolutely true..running behind money, we forget to teach children about simple pleasures of life and their responsibilities as a good human. Good thought ..

    Reply
  • Vijay
    says:

    Very well written, also language used is for masses, these days most writings are only for classes.
    These needs to reach out to many, will help youngsters to have better understanding and not run for materialism
    V

    Reply
Leave a Reply
*
*
*

INSTAGRAM

Instagram did not return a 200.

Follow @aaratisavur