Modern Day Demigods—

We human beings are wired to seek heroes to worship. And even with the advancement of technology our propensity to appeal to higher authority has not changed. Even though the buzz word for modern day humanity is independence and personal freedom, we have never been so bound – we are bound to our technology; we are bound to our excessive spending, we are bound to pleasure; we are bound to comfort and list goes on. As J.J. Rousseau claimed, ‘man is free but, everywhere he is in chain.’

In the midst of our current crisis, we have various institutions claiming the promises they could never keep. Usually, their sales pitch goes something like – ‘if you give us authority, we will take care of you.’ But, we always have to remember that if we buy into their sweet talk they will come back to enslave us. It is no different from the idols our superstitious ancestors worshipped. The only difference is that we’ve moved from worshipping our religious institutions [pre-modern] to worshipping our secular institutions [modern]. It’s quite amusing that those who loath organized religion fall down and worship in the presence of organized government, organized education, organized media, organized community, organized sports and on and on… We are so against institution, and yet, we have never been so institutionalized!

As for me, I know who my GOD Is; and he is the only One who will receive my allegiance and loyalty. As for human hero – I am extremely suspicious of those who claim that they’ll take care of me. The ones who earn my hearing aren’t the ones who claim they know what’s good for me. No, the ones who earn my hearing are the ones who teach me the price of being a free man and challenge me to go through the tougher and often lonely road. In other words, the real heroes in my life are the ones who help me to become my own hero.