Incompleteness

Incompleteness                                                                                               

Human endeavors to replace inferior things with superior ones have never known boundaries. Our ancestors proudly remind us what they started with and what they ended up with. The whole human race has been trying since times immemorial to take the word "incompleteness out of this world. 

There is no denial of the fact that this craze has enabled us to know and use what was hidden deep in the chest of earth, above in the skies or simply on the face of earth; quenched centuries-long desires and gave birth to other desires that did not exist before. In absolute terms, today’s man might be 100 times ahead with his fulfilled ends as compared to a man in 10th century. However, at the same time he might be 100 times behind with his unfulfilled ends as compared with the same 10th century man. 

If perfect things appeals to human nature; if completeness is the goal of our life; then why do we miss the old times? People who had tough times, inferior goods, and poor food in earlier times often remember these things when they are well-off. It is no surprise to listen from a person that his old times radio would thrill him more with the wavy sound than the crystal and uninterruptible sound of the CD player at hand; that his old rickety bicycle had a different ride and comfort than the good shiny car; that the mud-made, untidy, and heat-and-cold-prone room had its own appeal in contrast to the good, decorated and well furnished room. Is it because we love what we had? If yes, then why we love more what we don’t have? We love the old radio, the rickety bicycle and the messy room, however, the inward hatred is so deeper that we do not wait a single moment to replace these with the better ones if we get hands on resources. The charm of completeness overtakes the beauty of incompleteness. However, the completeness hides incompleteness in it. It gives birth to new thirsts, new hungers, new wishes, and new desires; we move on with higher-level ends in mind; ends that seem as if they are the core goals of our life. We feel so hollow with these unfulfilled ends. 

So here is the puzzle. We respect our old times, our memories associated with old things and not the things themselves. But the love is not stronger enough to stop us from indulging in love for new better things. We are so fickle to even love what once we thought to be among our big goals. What brings in all this infidelity? Incompleteness! Yes. This is the sole agent for the whole unrest. I know this article is still incomplete, but I shall leave it so for the beauty of incompleteness.........

Attaullah Shah

2007