The Idea of Commitment
Since the beginning of human civilization, one thing that has been most essential in our survival and growth as a species is trust. That bond of commitment between two friends or even strangers has been so crucial that without it, no kind of city or country could have ever developed. Moreover, the individual connections amongst the small group with which we began, may have hindered and eventually fallen out of existence, for a mere dearth of cooperation.
It actually is so simple. Two parties meet and get to know each other. Then either a third party, a written record/system, a cross across the heart, a pinch on the neck, a promise and many other rituals varying with culture, strikes the deal as done. A commitment on part of both parties. Withdrawing from the commitment results in severe penalties. So much pressure is put on staying true to commitments that whole organisations of religion have evolved so as to keep humans in line. The idea is beautiful and as everything beautiful in nature, it is completely and utterly imperfect.
Things quickly go downhill from the idea. But we keep on. It is after all, what keeps us all alive.
And things have changed over the years. Be it the commitment with your partner, to a stranger, to a country, to a paper, to a good ol’ friend, everything is being moulded by time.
Commitment in relationships and its definition has drastically changed in the last few decades. Everything has so drastically changed in the last few decades. And as individualism is high and popular, so is the needs being met differently. Even the old age concepts of matrimony and monogamy are being reexamined. How long they will survive or even maintain their current form is hard to answer but as various new types of relationships are discovered, people are choosing among many choices now. Polyamory, open relationships, no relationships, etc now have an equal chance of consideration. It’s a colourful field now, and flowers of different colours and smells are ripe to pluck.
Commitment with strangers is also having its swings. More complex laws and little trust have brought us really smoothly to a world where a simple handshake is rarely trusted now. And the repercussions are before us. Less and less global cooperation and more fear of the foreign has given way to extremism nobody should actually want. Technology has spun us on our axis so much that this new hat of social media is hard to handle. The frenzy of the internet, with glimmers of hope, is the ultimate test of human cooperation. The commitment this species has to itself and to its fellow organisms is either dwindling or reconstructing, which out of these, is again hard to tell. The commitment of being a better human to oneself is still rarer and with little help, the erosion is softly cutting at the edges of society.
But it’s not bad. It’s just a phase. And it’s contained. The majority of the population still holds the old ways sacred. A handshake and a smile can still do wonders in a small village somewhere in India. But its slowly being affected. Our hearts and our culture are itself seeing a new age with which they are little acquainted. How to cope with changes in the very fabric which has held us all together for so long, is a terrifying yet a mystifying experience. How well we do in this age of intelligence, with our crude animal instincts and our enclosed pulpy organs, is a tale which will define us, ‘the wise people’ for ages and ages hence.
