The Importance of 'Prioritized Living' - A Necessity of the Times

I have been working in/with U.S. since January 2015 when I first arrived in this country. It has been more than 9 years. Progress happens and societies undergo minor or major changes in a decade, irrespective of any person at the helm. To accommodate a person like me, provide me with a job for a lengthy period and make me successful, the country will need to restructure a bit as it travelled in its journey from year to year. In the legacy U.S. as it existed in 2015, I didn’t find a job. I didn’t find one in 2016 and 2017 either and neither am I successful in life. Along the journey, I found one U.S. job in India in 2020 and landed in U.S. with the same job in 2022. I have been working in U.S. for the past two years, along with getting married a year before. It took five years of struggle from 2015 to 2020 before things happened in my favor. In a way it took five years for this country to position itself and lay the road for my success.  

When you are seamlessly working in the routines in this newfound path of success, overcoming challenges and reaching new heights; there is one critical aspect which has been overlooked by you and the environment which provided all of this to you. Both me and the environment in which I am operating have overlooked the ‘priorities’ which need to be followed for a good living. When you are working for positives assiduously, there is a danger of perpetrating many negatives for overlooking the ‘priorities'. There might come a time when there can be more disadvantages than advantages which can consume your position of advantage. Only when you follow the correct priorities and proper living will you negate these negative outcomes which can increase unchecked as the days go by. If you put a name to this new outbreak, it can be called ‘distorted priority syndrome’. It can be a new strange outbreak, new unknown mystery in this closely connected world. 

Not everything is so bad at present, but we are close to initiating negative outcomes because of missing the bus of priority. When a gullible person from a society who doesn’t work so hard, who doesn’t charge like a bull, who follow the norms of prioritized living, lives a good life for a 60 years, he is more fortunate than an educated, knowledgeable person from a developed society who causes more harm than good. Definitely, this kind of ‘ordinary’ and sustainable living was prevalent in the world for thousands of years before the extra ordinary took over and led to more unsustainable practices. Only an educated, knowledgeable person will cause novel, unknown outbreaks whereas a common man with ordinary life leads a fortunate, harmless living. Any of the self-sustainable societies breed these ordinary people aplenty who don’t cause any problems to the second person or anyone whereas the societies with skewed priorities breed the extra ordinary aplenty. As I travelled with U.S. or as the U.S. travelled with me, we had certainly missed the bus to the world of prioritized living. Just for instance, nothing is more important than mother nature and the harm we are causing to the environment is unrivaled across the world. No other ordinary country causes more harm to the environment than some of the extraordinary countries. This is a reminder to mend ways and follow established practices than leading the world to a problematic future. 

Any wave which travels in the positive will also travel in the negative with the same magnitude. Or in the end all the advantages and disadvantages evens out. Or the good we bring will also be succeeded by the bad. Or the sine curve rises and rises before it falls and falls. Or the creation will also be followed by the destruction. Whatever name we put and whatever way we see, it is important for us to be level-headed and calm than revel and bask in the moment, for you never know when the downside will crop up. We can certainly not give up on the advantages while trying to negate the disadvantages. The best way forward in these times can be to treat the problems by adopting norms of prioritized living while also continuing the pursuit of present day. It is the struggle and friction for the want of both which will lead to favorable outcomes. 

While continuing the present-day status quo, there is a tremendous need to embrace sustainable, prioritized norms of living. This is a need to embrace the change to solve micro and macro problems. When you follow at the micro level, it will resemble at the macro level or when the country adopts norms at macro level it will percolate to individual levels. Hence, there is a tremendous need to prioritize the way of living in the country by adopting norms at macro level. The problem statement at a high level and at its root is – the world is led by a country which has been in existence for just four centuries. This should be other way round. The U.S. should follow countries which have been a model of sustainability for thousands of years. When you stop dictating and start following, you are embracing the norms of prioritized living. Or else you are perpetrating skewed priorities all over the world and taking the world into a different path than which is followed for countless years. One way to look at the magnitude of problem is by looking at another statement – India should not be born out of the actions of U.S., but U.S. should be born out of the actions of a country like India. The former will eventually lead to anarchy and the latter will lead to sustainability but alas, the world is heavily bent in favor of the former situation. This is the gradual change which should be embraced to adopt norms of prioritized and sustainable living. At a macro level, replace the desire for leadership, dominance with the heart adjusted to be a humble follower. 

We are talking about the world rationalizing its priorities and adjusting for a mutual co-existence. We need not give up on one for the want of the other. But finding a balance for mutual co-existence is important and prevents a negative fallout on a scale. This negative outbreak and the problem can be reaching wider proportions and greater severity, and we may never know the effect it may produce. Hence there is greater need to adopt prioritized living, to reiterate again. Can the country be cooled down and taken back to its time before 2015. The country has been radicalized with catalytic reactions to a great extent but is it progress or unnecessary disruption. In any case, we are staring at the moment where the engines of the nation are heated up to emit steam with importance given to some things over other vitals. This is the moment which has exposed the nation’s misplaced priorities. 

To get back the priorities in living correctly, we need to cool down tremendously. There will be fire when there is a lot of steam. Watering it down and cooling is a solution to the fire. These high temperatures are observed for more than a year where the institutions have operated by not following the priorities. When the systemic deviation has taken place for long, it becomes a problem of pandemic proportions. A difficult decision and struggle to contain, control is paramount than an unbridled run. Heat should reach out to cold; fire should reach out to water, activity should reach out to inactivity and prioritized living should be encouraged, promoted – that is a way to maintain balance and treat the problem. 

After gradual arrival to this point, the problem at the macro level has been exposed and needs to be treated without any reservations. Needless to say again, the practice of following skewed priorities is the reality of the times. It is the reality we need to deal with on an urgent basis and giving the highest importance to mend ways. Prioritized living promotes sustainability at a high level. Through conscious efforts, we need to identify patterns of the problem and promote sustainability to fix it. A cognizance of the problem has been taken at the recently concluded climate summit. Notably, at the COP28 climate conference, nations agreed to a landmark deal to move towards net zero emissions by 2050, which includes "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner". Moreover, over 100 countries at COP28, including the 27 member states of the European Union and the 79 members of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, called for a fossil fuel phaseout and an immediate end to all new oil and gas production. These initiatives reflect a growing global consensus on the need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels to mitigate the impacts of climate change and promote sustainable energy practices. This is a great acknowledgement of the problem in December 2023, resolution to fix it and tremendous shift towards a new sustainable world from a policy perspective at high level. These kind of policy shifts and tough decisions need to be taken up to follow the profound principles of ‘prioritized living’. U.S. has been a leader in propagating climate change, and it is high time for this country to cool down, take note of impending danger, change at macro, micro levels and turn something likely to unlikely. At its worst, we cannot be mute spectators of this and those who already knew need to act upon it.