As we proceed further in life, some facts get very clear. Life gets busy, and we hardly find time for old school fellows, old cricket partners, and old childhood friends. It is quite natural that when it’s time to leave a place, whether we have spent a good time there or not, we usually feel attached, sad, and somehow leave with a desire to stay there for some time. All emotional attachment flows as days turn to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. There were times when we used to think we can’t even survive a minute without each other, and then comes a time when we hardly have any words on a phone call over the years.
Ethically, the purpose of any healthy gathering is to get a reunion of old friends and meet with the ones we have left somewhere in the dust of the past, but due to this globally connected but merely attached world, such occasions become very rare. I may have thousands of questions in my mind that I want to ask my old school fellow, but as I don’t have any contact and time for it, I usually hold it for an occasion.
Previously, marriage invitation was considered a must-attend occasion, but now, we usually drop a message of not being able to attend due to work, family, or personal travel. Somehow, this distancing is also linked to unemployment in our society. When we think of attending a marriage ceremony, we usually consider the money that we have to spend on buying a gift for the wedding couple, the time, and the daily wage that we have to sacrifice for the wedding event. So, usually attending a wedding ceremony and staying in touch somehow just sustains financially stable people. We merely see a daily wager keen to attend such events.
Normally, it is a prevailing trend that we demand our friends and families to at least be on our funeral. As the time between the funeral and death is the final time someone can find for their old school or college friend. Nobody demands a gift at his funeral, and most of us usually go on such occasions with a sympathetic feeling that “These are the last moments”. As the trend of reunions is being eliminated due to unavailability of time, a new trend is emerging that is meeting with old classmates, school or college mates at funerals. This is very shameful and represents how the social fabric of our society is disturbed.
A few days back, I was at a funeral for a friend’s mother. I went along with my younger brother and father. I was there well before the time, so I observed all the people coming for the funeral. I saw people shaking hands with a smile on their faces and discussing their present company, work, business, and daily affairs. I normally don’t draw any observations in such a short time, but this act was pathetic. I felt very tense about the upcoming survival of our society. I just believe that this very well-connected but poorly attached society has reached its lowest level, that we are now using funerals as the only occasion to reunite and discuss our present situation.
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