I feel reading other blogs and commenting on them opens up my mind to newer horizons and blogposts. It has happened many times and this post came up while I was writing a comment here.
I was wondering, with the slightest of problem we have, we have a tendency to rush to the doctor to find out whats wrong. If you go to the doctor, you are bound to find something wrong. I mean with the advances in medical science everybody has got to have something wrong with them.
But, the question why are we so concerned if a little fever comes up or a little cough? 2-3 generations ago, medical science was still developing. People did not even know what was going on in their bodies and I feel that they were happier. With so many news circulating around us of death due to so many different types of illnesses, we tend to worry more.
People say that it is because of the good diet they had and the clean water and the purity of anything that they ate. I somehow tend to disagree. I have lived for a while in a place where fruits and vegetables are grown in front of your eyes with the same canal water that has been used for ages, with the same seeds and have seen Allah's work in front of my eyes. How the seed sowed into the sand grows into a beautiful plant, tree etc and yet, people who eat them do get more sick now than their ancestors.
So, I come back to my question. Was it that our ancestors didn't get sick or was it that nobody identified that they were sick?
The logical reply would be the latter that nobody could identify anything wrong and they were not worried about the petty things. So, I wonder, were they better off? I mean everybody is going to die one day. If somebody asks me that would you like to know whats wrong with you, each and everything, I would probably say yes. But do I really need to know?
I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if I were born a few 100 odd years ago. I know, I wouldn't have been blogging that's for sure. I would probably have a salary of 2000 rupees and would be living like a millionaire. I somehow feel I would have been happier and more content.
I am not complaining. I am very happy now also, Alhamdulillah. I just wonder, are we really worrying too much about our and our family's health. People who go on dieting to lose weight get a very stern lecture from me most of the time. Not eating is not dieting. Eating and exercising is.
Now what is good eating? I say eat everything in a balanced manner and then exercise. That is the secret and nothing else. And of course stop taking too much tension of your health. There is a million things going inside your body. Somebody has been taking care of that even before you were born. Don't try to do too many things by yourself.
Its been a wayward post touching on multiple aspects. I guess my thoughts are a bit distorted on the same as well. But tell me, did our ancestors really live a better life while being unknown to the fact that so many illnesses were there or were they really not unwell at all...?
Its this wayward perfectionist attitude we're instilling in the young of this society that, for me, is doing all the damage. Look at our education system, for example, the kids are so tensed-up at getting good grades by rote-learning and what not that they have lost the all-important ability to QUESTION and UNDERSTAND things logically. Then there are burdens of our society, our household, the expectations ... the "perfectionist" ideology where we're expected to be models of piety, self-control etc. (that could do no wrong). That, maybe for me, is THE difference between today's life and that of a 100 years ago. Plus, the fact that everything is so god damn fast now and hardly anyone has any time has put paid to social gatherings, interaction, personal development and basically has just amplified our problems tenfold IMHO
ReplyDeleteSo is ignorance a blessing? Hmmm...probably. Because now the post where you commented has me thinking probably I also have that disease/disorder/whatever because of which I can't lose weight! :P When I join gym, I lose inches but I don't lose Lbs! :D
ReplyDeleteP.S. I also agree with Raza. My kid cousins always seem to be studying and still they can't a good eassy on their own! :?
One thing that definitely was better 2-3 generations ago was the value-system.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, I find that those who are honest and want to live by certain principles in their life are not respected for that by the majority of people. They are the exceptions, rather than the rule.
Two or three generations ago, the dishonest people were the exceptions and exposure of their deeds was thought of as something that brought great disgrace upon them and their families. Nowadays, it is considered as a matter of prestige, when some one's corruption is exposed.
It is my blog which UTP refers to in his post. I would like to point out that I do in fact have metabolic syndrome which is why I am struggling to lose weight. Even when eating well and exercising I don't lose weight.
ReplyDeleteThere are some people who tend to go to the doctor for small things, but one should know your body well enough to know when something is wrong.
First of all, thanks for the comment! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good post and it has got me thinking too. But I seem to have formulated a slightly different conclusion.
It seems to me that with advancements in technology, we realize there was a lot that we didn't know. We end up learning how ignorant we were and are thus able to develop our current knowledge. But the technologies we invent and create have negative consequences as well.
Like you said, advancements in medicine have allowed to realize that the people who we previously thought were fine are actually ill. Society is now very concerned with personal and public health. It is the civilized thing to do to go to the dentist or general doctor for periodic checkups.
But what we don't factor in to these "advancements" are the ailments we have created as a result of technology.
Because of technological development, our world is polluted. Today, everything causes cancer. Air pollution, chemicals in plastics, artificial no-sugar sweeteners, etc.
These things didn't exist a few hundred years ago. Life was much simpler and so were the problems and ailments.
It seems to me that the more advanced technology becomes, the more damage we cause for ourselves.
Don't get me wrong - I love technology and use it everyday. But we just have to be conscious of the fact that modern/advanced technology is a double-edged sword.
Your post reminds me of the 'placebo effect' it's all in the mind or the strength of the mind then ...I remember i watched this movie 'Patch Adams' based on a true story (Munna Bhai sort of gets its concept from it too) and in that Robin Williams, strived to make the life of people dying a happier one coz maybe as abraham Lincoln said:
ReplyDelete"it's not how many years u live but the life in the years you have lived tht counts'
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hehe guess m thoughts are distorted too, talking too many things at a time :-)
I could never use the toilets they had a few 100 odd years ago!
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I think that people in older generations didn't use to disturb the balance maintained by nature. Kind of like the things that Amr Adel Amin says in his comment above. When the natural state of equilibrium is tempered with, things always go bad.
Everything was better in yesteryear - thats what nostalgia says to you
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comments above. Look at microwaves, and now with the chemicals in plastics.
ReplyDeleteBut also balance is key. Today's generation is all stressed out about getting things done, all fast fast fast, go go go. Another aspect which I believe, is in our parents/grandparents generation, there was little technological advancement, hence they had to work...and work hard as in manual labour, ploughing fields, tending to cattle, harvesting cane. All that hard work is also why many of them live to be so vibrant into their old age, and here we have ppl dying of heart attacks at 40/50.
Also, when the sun went down generations ago, people slept! Not us...we use artificial lighting to extend the day, and studies have proven that even that is detremental to our health.
I kinda agree with many of the comments that have been said here.
ReplyDeleteI've always contemplated on how it would be like to live in the world people 3 or more generations before me lived in, but not because of how much they actually knew or what types of technology were at hand, but because I think back then ladies were ladies and gentlemen were true gentlemen.. kinda like one of the comments above where they mentioned the "values" were different.
There were traditions and some kind of general vibe that really attracts me.. the way people treated each other and behaved themselves, in my opinion, was quite different. Maybe that's because the world wasn't as populated back then as it is now, maybe because of the increasing tempo of our lives, a lot less things seem surprising anymore.
But about the advancement of technology or that doctors can give better diagnoses, I have nothing against that at all. Knowledge is freedom! It's your choice to go to the doctor if you don't feel that something's seriously wrong. And if you go for regular checkups and the doctors tell you something's wrong, it's your choice to act upon it according to how serious you believe it is.. being told that you're on the verge of a heart failure isn't like being told that you need to take vitamins or increase your calcium or iron intake.
But, personally, I like being able to know every single thing that I could. What I do about it afterwards, is totally up to me.
Seriously, we are having a million and 10 issues to worry us. And we like to take tensions and make our lives problematic. Plus this idiot media is playing a major role in making people tension-friendly. Ufff
ReplyDelete@raza - that is true...the impossible 90% results are creating undue pressure on the students...and yes nobody questions the logic...they are not really "learning" or getting "educated"....they are just getting marks...
ReplyDelete@ordinary girl - I was thinking later, maybe I should have written the post title as "Ignorance is a bliss..." but your comment covers up for it...thanks...
@sidhusaaheb - that is another great observation sidhusaaheb...the good people are definitely as an exception today and certainly not "IN" if you know what I mean...
@solace - well one should know their body well yes...but not too well...sometimes...let Allah take care...sometimes its just too much and reaches close to paranoia...
@amr adel amin - hmm...I think advances in technology will go on and this will get better and worse at the same time from different perspectives...isn't this how it was all written and bound to happen?
@r.sameem - that is a beautiful quote and yes Patch Adams was one movie that inspired me also...
@saadat - I think you are still stuck on my toilet logic post hehhe...
@sumera - yeah...we only remember the good things of the past...well most of it anyway...and that is a blessing too...
@amir - wow...that is so true...we do stay up much later than the older generations...in fact PRIME TIME starts after sunset anyway...so true...and that is very unnatural cos its a well-known fact that Allah made the night for sleeping...
@lujee - you have a point too...it is true that we have the power to do or not do what we want...we can still get away from not going to the doctor...but I wonder do we? Peer pressure will make you think...the million forwards of emails you get for cholesterol this and cholesterol that...difficult..very difficult to do what you want...
@dinkymind - the media makes money out of selling tension...if there was no tension in lives...what would they sell? right?
In so many ways, I think we're luckier than our previous generations, in so many ways we're not...its all about how you see it..maybe next generation will consider us lucky
ReplyDeleteToilet logic post? Which one was that?!
ReplyDelete@lubz - I would have to agree to that...
ReplyDelete@saadat - you forgot so soon...that was a self-proclaimed masterpiece...heheh....here it is once more...
http://www.umarpirzada.com/blog/2008/06/12/public-toilet-probability-statistics/
whats wrong with microwaves?? :S
ReplyDeletei think, or rather believe, that nothing much has changed compared to past, only the methodologies have changed with the changing lifestyle. my grandma still says that in her days people had no diseases like today and they died just like that, which, like the author says, is because at that time the health issues were largely unknown.
This is why they say ignorance is bliss.. years ago they didn't know what's going on.. so they were happy.. but generally speaking, I think its better to know and learn as much as possible.. even if it makes your life difficult.. afterall, truth generally is bitter hehe
ReplyDelete@anas - a lot has changed and a lot will keep changing...but if you see it with another eye...nothing "really" has... its just the way we do things....the mediums...the start and end of most things is the same in principle...
ReplyDelete@kamran - 2 quotations in the same comment....creative...hehhe...
Were previous generations better or us?...how would one compare? peace and happiness? knowledge of self and the world around? material advancements?
ReplyDeleteI think most of this all is in our mind...doctor tells us that we are sick and we believe him and start feeling sick...knowing that he is just a human being like us whose knowledge is as complete as yours in your field :-)...sometimes I wonder what would happen if Newton was not right ...will plane start falling on our heads ?? :-D
I didn't forget, meray bhai. I just didn't know about it because I started reading your blog after that post. :)
ReplyDeleteThere are 2-3 thoughts that came to my mind while reading this post: For one, half-baked knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is self-diagnosis and self-prescription.
ReplyDeleteThe new findings in the medical field may leave us a little confused about what's right and not, but they've made life easier for us, increased the longevity of our lives in general and also the quality of our lives. For example, 60-year old now look much younger and are more active than what 60-years old used to be like just a decade or so ago.
@zios - well that is another good point...the gravity was existent but did the masses really care whether it did or not? I mean imagine even at the time...discoveries and science were going on while in a quiet village somewhere in the world...people still wanted to talk about what to eat...
ReplyDelete@saadat - oh ...sorry then...now you know...
@d - a 60-year old is still a 60-year old...looks don't matter...
Happy belated birthday, by the way!
ReplyDeleteWhat a timely post Ada :). Our ancestors were certainly luckier to get pure food and pure air and less stressful lifestyle. However, some people consider our generation lucky as we experience all the tech advancements and stuff like that. But I somehow like the old times mainly because the purity and simplicity.
ReplyDeleteHey UTP!
ReplyDeleteThought-provoking post as usual! First of though I got to thank you for your comment on my confused post as it was an eye-opener : ) well, a heart-opener too! Thank you : )
As for your post here, moderation is always the first thing that comes to mind when life and how it's lived is mentioned. The balanced way, the golden mean, all cultures and all people have come to the conclusion that to live a good life, one must do everything in moderation. So, by all means go to the doctor when something is bothering you moderately or severely but don't sweat the small stuff. I have a friend who's an emergency doctor and she gets people who come in with paper cuts and headaches!!!
People of older generations lived a slower paced life and so they had less stress which is among the major risk factors for many majorly serious health conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease and so on.
So yea, the more time goes by, the more advanced we become, the faster we need to move to keep up and that takes a toll on the human body.
Good post, keep them coming!
Tee
Media ki to..... Seriously, media creates so much hype for just nothing. And then they say, "we keep you informed". Damn them! Who would want to have such tension-filled information???
ReplyDelete@saadat - Thanks :$
ReplyDelete@fariha - I wonder how..."timely" it was...didnt get that one...old times were simple and pure...those are two good adjectives to describe...the older times...more peaceful, safe also...I sometimes wonder...would we trade in today for yesterday? I think that makes another blog post...
@teedimensionist - moderation reminds me the term "enlightened moderation" which got quite famous a few years back...of course one should go to the doctor when something is not right...before it aggravates but dont get over whelmed by so many other things that are not that critical...I dunno..I might be wrong here...doctors do make life more TENSION FULL!!
@dinkymind - oye huay...I don't know whether it should be tension filled or tension full...hmmm...some people are making a lot of money and fame...through these new media NEWS channels....but I really like DAWN News' quality of programs...they have maintained their quality...
Lol...Who cares about tension filled or full :D
ReplyDeleteand why the oye hoye? :P
@dinky mind - oye huay was for the "Media kee tou..." hehhe...see its always good to be grammatically correct and if one is not grammatically correct then take credit for the new distortion in language...
ReplyDeleteso...should it be tension filled .... or tension full?I think it is something to do with the tense....isn't it?
[...] other thing was an old post I had written on “Life 2-3 generations ago ~ Was it better?” which actually had a lot of views and comments from the readers which makes it sort of a [...]
ReplyDelete[...] If somebody asks me to trade in today for yesterday, I would probably say yes. I have written on this aspect before. But on the other side of it, would I trade in today for a better [...]
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