Dear Friends,

I am prone to thinking I live my life right, and people don’t like the implied arrogance in that statement, saying that “Oh, well no one can say they’re right and everyone else is wrong” when, in fact, just the very way one lives his or her life implies an acceptance of one ideal of righteousness over another. Now, in saying that, I don’t mean to say everyone else is arrogant either. I mean only to say that we are all entitled to and responsible for our own views and practices, and to block out the expression of this distinction is ignorance, not acceptance. It would be like not acknowledging an ethnic difference or racial disparity amid company, or what is more commonly done, putting us all under the umbrella of “diversity”, where essentially, the term implies the muddling of whites, browns, blacks, yellows, reds, blues, and greens together to make the sickly horse snot color we are all familiar with from the cup of water we used with our paints in elementary art class. In this, we lose the beauty and distinction of each color on its own, instead taking pride only our glorious ability to mix it all together so indiscernibly and irrevocably. And what’s worse? We are convinced we are doing a good thing.

I think the effort to distinguish yourself amid those around you, be it in fashion, in thought, maybe in the music you listen to, the candidate you supported, the movements you follow, the brand of your cologne, and everything you have written under your bio on Facebook, is not infinitesimally as important as your ability to truly stand up for them. Being right isn’t a state of mind, it’s a state of action. If I believe I am right, I tell people, and I expose the idea to this open environment so that it may be disputed, detested, tested, refined, updated, revolved, and reborn. For this reason, no one is inconsistent – they are simply growing, and no one should take special pride in not changing their beliefs, as it simply means they haven’t challenged themselves enough. And perhaps all of that is wrong, but at least one of you will tell me so, so that I am not led down this path forever.

“A marketplace of ideas”, we call this nation of America. Really? A marketplace? Because in South Asia our marketplaces look different. They are marked by an urgency, a personal interaction, a struggle, a victory, and a reward, all of which depend on personal initiative – not simply walking in and self-checking out. But I think there is one fundamental difference in these marketplaces that carries over into ideology to give this analogy substance. The difference is simply that in a South Asian market, the seller and the producer are the same, so that there is a personal stake in welfare of the good sold – a stake absent at the Sam’s Club. Like an idea, this good is cared for and grown and then presented in its best light, a personal light, to the world, with a genuine love to be spread. And if it isn’t spread, it goes back into the earth to become better.

After all, what good is a “marketplace of ideas” if all we do is window shop?

Of course all that’s changing, and a lot of those practices are meshing together much like the horse snot from above, but here’s what’s probably floating around your minds now: “Alright, it’s okay to believe in something, just as long as you don’t impose it on people.”

And you’re right. Imposition is wrong. But introduction is requisite. It’s a part of the whole “right is action” thing. Imposition means proselytizing. It means coercion. But to introduce your idea to someone is to challenge them. It means proudly sharing something that defines who you are, while at the same time stirring up something in your conversant that will make one of you, in the end, grow. Yes! Grow! And all this while you thought I was trying to start fights.

In closing, I’d like to say that I make this point more with the intention to be proven wrong than right, and my hope, which I believe I share with all of you, is to grow and learn and become a better person.

So have at this fresh meat.

Your Friend,

Anand Jayanti

Photo Courtesy: autan

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