Individual and National Mess

 Let me tell you about two incidents which happened within last week in this country. They might be very small but at the same time somewhat major in their own terms. First, on last Monday, a crash involving a truck caused around 1.5 lakh tomatoes to scatter across the highway in California. It is around 50 thousand pounds in a hulking pile of red which spread across 200 feet on the road creating a red mass of about a feet deep. Soon the drivers in poor visibility drove over them creating a messy ketchup. The point to be noted is there is a ketchup and there is a huge mess on the road of around thousands of tons. In a similar incident, on following day – Tuesday evening, part of highway I-55 in Memphis was forced to close around rush hour after an 18-wheeler truck crashed and unleashed a load of alfredo sauce which spilled over multiple lanes. A thick, white substance coated multiple lanes across the highway. The point to be noted is there is a ketchup and there is a huge mess on the road.

What do both these incidents point out – mess on the roads, caused by messy individuals with their messy driving. While a mess which can be caused by a small bottle of ketchup in a house can annoy a household, what about the mess created by these incidents. It is an enormous, out-in-the-open, on-the-road, gigantic mess which is there to be cleared. While we cannot tolerate a little disorder in our small house, how can we tolerate a huge mess in the nation. The huge incidents outside happens due to the enormous root causes prevalent. Besides mere accidents, these incidents at this time can be read as caused by two factors – 1. The individuals are a mess. 2. The nation is a mess which caused the individuals to act in a messy way. Just like the tons of ketchup on the roads symbolises the nations mess, individuals who creates a mess also represents the mess in the nation.

Let me quickly offer my two cents on the mess an individual can create. I don’t go any further and point to my own self. It can be pointed out that we are reading too much in too little, but we must remember by virtue of these incidents that we are there before and seen this before. I am speaking about my last two trips to the U.S. I worked here briefly on both the occasions and left in no-time around 2016-17. Just as I am becoming accustomed to the nation and the nation becoming accustomed to me, I left in middle. I heard from some of the acquaintances that I created a mess by virtue of the little work and abrupt departure. I am plainly disturbed to create this little mess unintentionally on the earlier occasions. Unfortunately, my historic tryst with U.S. has this messy ending.

I suffered bouts of guilty conscience because of the way things have panned out earlier. With the lessons in hindsight, I plan to better myself and not to repeat the mistakes. I no longer intend to create or uncover a mess but rather steady the ship, bring it to the shore or to a logical conclusion, work-on to create lasting, durable affects and long-lasting imprints. It is always better to be remembered as this rather than as a messy little kid. I mean, I would like to cast the anchor, dig deep, become stable and stay in the country till the time there are desirable outcomes to leave. I believe I am into a successful tenure this time around and don’t make a sudden, abject departure as a failure. I wish to play a long battle and see how things unfold.

This is about the little mess I created earlier and the need to see it doesn’t repeat. A mess created by an individual just tells that the nation is in a mess. The nation needs to establish a smooth travelling path and begin its journey without getting perturbed by chaos and clutter.

To give an example of how a national mess is created or uncovered, consider the scenario of ex-President Trump who completely opposed the election results and incited an insurrection over the elected member’s house. Here the body which oversees the elections has been in a mess which has been capitalised by Trump through his actions. When there is a strong body with fair, undisputed polling, there is a no room for any mess by any individual. This weakness has been uncovered and exposed by a strong political fraternity which has caused a national Presidential election mess which has been unseen, unheard. These people will pounce on these vulnerabilities, and it is up to the systems to get strengthened and improved. When everyone can believe in free and fair elections, there is no room for ‘voter fraud’, ‘stolen votes’, ‘finding votes’ and ‘overturning elections’. It’s the systemic failure which has been exploited by the individual to create an unprecedented mess.

When everything is in order in the country there will not be any elements creating a mess. Leaving about the mess by individuals, how can you pull a nation out of the mess it created for itself. One way to think of is to shed the tag of a fun-loving nation and become a hard-working nation. There is no better gift to a person or nation than to set it on a path of good hard work. A hard-working nation will succeed its people and prevent a failure like me from creating a little mess. The nation is definitely hard working which is why I am here with a job. Hence to prevent the mess in nation, a hard-working nation has to be evolved. It is once again easier said than done and it took so long for me to turn from a failure to a partial-success story.

This is how a story extends from an individual to a larger picture – messy individuals will create messy nations and vice-versa. A nation which has become hard-working from a fun-loving will have its many problems solved. A nation which can succeed vulnerable people like me can definitely become successful, great. When individuals are on this successful path, a nation will turn its tables and emerge from its dark shadows. Along this path, the issues which can create a mess will ultimately obliterate giving rise to a new dawn. The incidents of ketchup on the roads just tells us that the days of mess are over and we are in for a successful tomorrow.