Our surroundings are a colourful world made of plastic. From tea cups to children's toys, from daily furniture to life-saving medical equipment, modern life is unimaginable without plastic. It is cheap, readily available, durable, and can be moulded into any shape. But behind this convenience lies a terrible truth. Plastic does not mix with Nature; it breaks down but never decomposes. For years, for hundreds of years, it remains as waste, continuously polluting our environment.
If today's society were to be compared to a single object, what better metaphor could there be than plastic?
Aren't our relationships, feelings and values also slowly becoming like plastic? Plastic looks beautiful, is attractive, and easy to use, but it is just as hollow and artificial on the inside. The biggest question of this plastic society is now hurtling towards us: have human emotions also become 'recyclable' products?
Once, relationships were like glass wares. Though they might break with a slight blow, efforts were made to carefully mend them because every relationship was priceless.
But today's relationships are like disposable plastic cups. Use them, throw them away, and pick up a new one. Unfriending someone from a Facebook list, blocking them on WhatsApp, or ending a relationship over a minor disagreement-all of this seems to be just a click away.
Building and breaking relationships have become so easy that the depth, commitment, and emotion behind them are nearly lost.
Hena Sikder
Department of Philosophy
Jagannath University
sikderhena734@gmail.com