Is Cinema Corrupting Our Moral Values?

Ladies & gentlemen, we are witnessing the 21st century. Where everything has taken a new turn towards revolution and where technology has become vital in one’s life. Precisely speaking, the world in which we live today has modernized at the cost of integrity, faith, and morality. One such example of modernization is cinema. Now, what is wrong with cinemas? Apparently none of it is wrong as perceived by today’s youth

There is absolutely nothing wrong when you go to cinemas to watch a movie, no one will stop you. In fact, it’s what will define you as modern and broad minded. Ironically, if a child is found watching MUJRA on TV or blueprints, his/her parents or siblings might be ashamed yet watching an item song on a big screen in a cinema is “liberation”. Telling someone that your friend dragged you to a Masjid, church or temples (rare it is, though) would be a covert affair. On the other hand you are to watch NA MALOON AFRAAD, JISM, Fifty shades of Grey, Game of Thrones, and the never ending list of such movies and seasons, one feels proud rather mature to tell the world about it through social media. And then we expect our children to pray to their respective GODS, respect elders and be a responsible citizen of their respective Nations.

Another shameless act everyone might have noticed at one time or the other that the atmospheres these cinemas provide with are very favorable for dating and dating cheap. Young couples find it as an opportunity to get themselves a seat in the top corner of the cinemas and explore. Obviously who would rent a room at the higher cost when one gets a cheaper offer? So next time you go to watch a movie to cinema keep your eyes open for such short movies being played right in the corner seats of the hall.

The problem initiates when wrong doesn’t seem wrong anymore when your guilt becomes the reason of your pride. That is when your inner conscious should and will provoke you to stop. You are well aware of it, but you decide to shut what your consciousness warns you off and do as you please. I believe this is the moment when you push yourself over the edge to fall in the filth that the world has to offer, when you allow it to corrupt your mind and soul, degrade and let go of your moral and ethical values.

We spent thousands of rupees, dollars each year on watching movies and clubbing, failing to acknowledge the fact that there are children existing in this world deprived of basic necessities of life and most importantly education. Ironically we imagine saving our country/world and talk about ignorance of government in such matters while those who are blessed with the status and money spent on corrupting ourselves in cinemas, clubs and what not.

How many of us go to watch a documentary being screened in a museums or cinemas? How many of us promote it? How many of us think that it is a good way to do business (thinking as an entrepreneur)? Only a few of us I suppose… Why is that so? According to my survey amongst the teenagers and people in their 20’s think these documentaries are not amusing, they are boring, they are history, who cares about the history because we live in present and think of futures only, past is depressing, it is a new world, a new era, a revolutionized century we live in.

It came to my realization that we as youth have distorted definition of entertainment as well as no respect and value for our history of mankind or the wonders that leaders of our respective nations have done to provide us with the motherland, we call our Country. Today’s generation think it has been done! Let’s live in the moment those leaders are dead already, big deal. We need to have the skill, we need to earn for ourselves, eat hard, drink hard, party hard and die in Peace. Yet you will find each one of us complaining as to where the world is heading, towards destruction. Blaming our governments while we sit in front of T.V enjoying exotic meals served with wine and followed by freshly brewed coffee.

So cinemas are just one example of what perhaps corrupts our moral values gradually. There are many more which tends to corrode our character every single passing day without making us realize. It is like an internal disease or a tumor that grows in you slow and steady until it is too late or too difficult for you to escape.

The list of my questions and complaints would go on… But the truth is, even after reading what I just wrote, the question still remains that Is cinema corrupting our moral values?

LIFE is a CIRCUS

It is often believed that we live our life as per our desires. It seems as if we are steering our lives in perfect harmony or perhaps that our life is a roller coaster rides driven by an external force constantly that is invisible to us. With many steep and shallow points during the ride is what we compare to our lives. But is it so in reality?

Perhaps, but i draw my analogy of life from a circus. A place where people enjoy, oblivious to the roles they are playing themselves. They live it every day, become a source of entertainment for others every day, and give people a reason to pass critiques over your act. And once the act is laid my friend, it is irrevocable.

Allow me to show you a picture of life from the perspective I draw my analogy. Every day we wake up, for what?  You?  Me?  Our parents?

 I wake up because I have too. I am supposed to do so because I am expected to study & make my future. Not only this, but also to become a source of pride for my family. So that when the day comes I support them (which is a good thing) and hoping to earn a perfect bride. Are these the reasons why I have been getting up for past 21 years of my life? Are your stories any different?? I doubt that. Maybe the perspective differs but similar aim is somewhere lurking behind your perfect and disguised perceptions of life.

Our parents wake up every day to earn, to provide us with basic necessities of life as well as luxuries so to make easy path for us to build our future. Not only that but to take pride in telling the world our child is a highest achiever at school or is currently working for some XYZ company at this salary. They wake up every day with their aim being their children and family.  They teach us ethics and values so as to not only organize ourselves but to please others. In other words, blend in the society so we aren’t the hot topic of conversations in a gathering.

So is it right? Is the reason of you and me waking up in the morning, the reason what we are living for? Or is there something more to it? There is! There is much more to it than we comprehend and because we are so blind to see it, we are too engrossed in this chaotic world to feel that this isn’t the reason at all.

I refer our life nothing but a circus because we wake up every day suppressing our feelings and our true selves; prepare to stage ourselves for this world as they want to see it. We, humans are versatile and adaptive by nature but is it right to deceive people with smiling faces and tortured souls? Is it right to tell the world and most importantly yourself that it’s okay and everything is at peace and calm in your life when it is not? Is it okay to lie when it does not benefit anyone but us? Is it okay to be a part of these peoples life that lie to you constantly and show you what does not exist?

Life is a circus and a long one bear in mind. The performers are there to please you. They are controlled by the ring master. Every performer is a star there. Each one has its part to play, and every single performer is vital for the show to be amazing. Likewise in our lives every single soul, even the feeble of all, has its part to play. However, one has to pay his price to be entertained. We pay our prices in various shades of life. That price is usually our contentment, our sentiments, our passion, our relations and our family. These are the prices we pay without the realization what losses are we paying for the desire of being entertained. Oblivious to the fact that the smiling faces may have their portion of grieves and desires in life unsaid and unnoticed. Life isn’t fair neither it is fair. So let’s just not treat it likewise. Let us just care for once, make space for realization, understanding, and humanity, think of giving happiness and spreading it instead of buying it.

To be honest, the paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more but have less, we buy more but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less cure.

We eat too much, work out too little, laugh just a little, get too aggressive, sleep too late, wake up too tired, read  little, laze around too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

Therefore try as I am. Don’t let people juggle your life for entertainment. Life isn’t a roller coaster ride. Life is a consequence of our decisions. I deny to accept my life as a part of a circus, as a performer, as an entertainer and as a puppet. I am not here to please other for the sake of it. I and you are in this world to serve the humanity with contentment and honesty. Stay happy and spread the happiness instead of selling it and for others to buy it.

LIFE is a Journey without Destination

I don’t think there's ever been a point in my career where I've said, 'I've made it.' No seriously, it is not because I am undergoing a torturing process of becoming an engineer. What does that mean, 'I've made it?' Made it to what? If you say, 'I've made it.' then to me you are finished? I don't want to be finished. I don’t want to sit back one day and just do nothing think nothing but how to create nuisance in other people life or generate a live drama of star plus."
I want my life to be a journey, not just an ordinary one but a journey with a destination having infinite no. of stays in between, having been able to spend time to know people and know the world by experiencing it not by just reading the books rather than a life where I only struggle to get more than 3.5 GPA every semester or get a job after graduation or even making retirement plans for gods sake. I think retirement is for miserable people who can’t wait for life as they know it to be over. “I’ll start my life and do what I want when I’m 70”, it’s like saying I will be single after I have grandkids. Again, waiting and expecting some end game, goal or result that may never happen. Gentlemen, you could be dead by the time retirement ever comes.
Most people go through life aimlessly. Their lives become a chaotic response to the winds and forces around them and they feel like tumbleweeds caught in a storm or stuck in a corner somewhere. To me, we all live like some programmable machine following instruction, assuming them to be our destination. These people are leading a frustrating life and jaded attitudes.
The truth is we are destined to die and in that period of time we have two options live life while we set our goals achieve them or just run after success and goals taking them to be our destiny and then after achieving it wondering as why something is still missing. Life has always something more for you to be explored. You’ll never “reach” your final destination—at least not in this life!
So, why does all this matter? Because far too many people put off what really matters in pursuit of the things they want to achieve. They tell themselves that they’ll worry about these things once they’ve reached their destination. Things like family, Enjoying friends, Nurturing relationships, Forgiving enemies, enjoying life, experiencing peace. These things are put off… and most of the time, they are never re-discovered.
Sure, it’s great to focus on destinations, but the most important thing is that you learn to be happy — right here and now. The key, however, is simply finding the right balance, discovering a mindset that allows us to pursue big things without sacrificing the “little things” that make life worth living.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Walter Hagen: “You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry. Don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way”