The technological sophistication, the mechanical life style, the race for perfection, the search for formula 1, that is the best way of life has sapped humanness out of human beings. And slowly but painfully human beings are realising this. Given the fact that the essence of human beings is humanness, the programmed life style and the wired living has now started taking its toll on human kind. As man becomes confined to himself, Ghettoised and lonely, his craving for humanness has started to ignite his basic nature. Classical sociology maintained that man is gregarious by nature. That, however, was long ago. In modern times, the search for some unknown definitions of prosperity and perfection has led man astray. He is on road to nowhere. But the basic nature tries to wriggle out of this mess. So human beings are now being pulled within by the basic centripetal force that is drawing them towards their essential human nature. look what has started happening. An altogether new vocation has come up. It is called “people walker”.
As the name suggests people walkers are those people who provide walking services or in other words give companionship for desiring humans at a price. In US these people walkers have started helping people fight loneliness by providing them company. The social disconnect is impinging so heavily on humans that they are now feeling depressed, which is the root cause of several fatal diseases. Rather ironical because it is an era in which human beings boast of being tuned and connected. The popular punch line being — stay tuned, stay connected. But the wired connect is now proving to be a mire in which humanness is slowly being bogged down in the morass of loneliness. The smart phones and the social media have deepened divisions and replaced real human relations with the surreal, the ersatz,and the artificial.
The growing global culture of individualism is proving to be a major cause of loneliness. loneliness that pains. loneliness that kills. Human beings love Company, may be just love love. The craving of human life is to love and be loved. But where is the time. People walker is just a trend round the corner, and the fact is that it will also prove to be a poor substitute. Buying the services of a people walker for $ 30 an hour may help human beings walk fast for the time being, but will certainly not make them go far enough. There is a popular cliché that says if you want to travel fast walk alone, if you want to travel far walk together. It remains to be seen whether the people walker will give that feeling of togetherness. Because companionship is a relationship that runs quite deep. It is more a heart to heart connect rather than business. For the love starved humanity, then, love is coming for a price. Will it, won’t it is the big question that lurks as the profession gets more popular and human beings more lonely. Studies pouring in are suggesting in no uncertain terms that face to face contact is important for mental and physical wellbeing. One of the biggest causes of sadness is eating alone. The family is being missed terribly with compulsion of individualistic life style drawing people into the cocoon of their own making. The African philosophy of Ubuntu, meaning “I am because we are” may provide some answer. Twitterati and the Glitteratti — are you listeningIJ
Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com
