As we sailed past the Towering Statue of Liberty, a monument that symbolises emancipation of mankind's tryst with inequality and exploitation, I recollect the historical amendment 13 of the constitution that abolished all forms of slavery.
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.".
A very noble and humanitarian bit of legislation that truly bears testimony to the evolution of man.
As I tour the financial district in downtown Manhattan, ( the name Manhattan comes from the Munsi language of the Lenni Lenape meaning island of many hills) this place houses the head offices of all major banking institutions, consulting houses and all the razzmatazz of corporate life, I can perceive a distinct ambience of extravagance and opulence that adorns every nook and corner of this city of glistening Skyscrapers. The streets of Manhattan downtown are paved in gold. The area teems with a culture of affluent indulgence that's so obviously palpable. High rise offices that are like shining, polished anthills, breeding a generation of worker ants. Workers, striving hard to earn more and climb higher in a never ending struggle where only winners are survivors. These tall scrapers symbolise a materialistic hegemony. The highly qualified, intelligent executives who are in fact sophisticated white collared mercenaries who transform corporate offices into war rooms. They indulge in dominance and subjugation by flexing their finacial muscle. This corporate warfare consumes these executives and demands extreme resilience and ruthless pursuit of targets and objectives. Beneath all the sophistication lurks a very raw and primitive killer instinct. Wolves of the Wall street, wearing sheepskins of etiquette, courtesies, donning immaculately tailored Armanis.
The unofficial financial capital of the world throbs with fiscal pulsations, seeped in a never ending lust for more. This land and this corporate culture appears to be gripped in a mutated form of slavery. A slavery that beckons to become the master. A new world order where slavery is not a phenomenon of one controlling another, but slavery of the self by the self. A slavery effected by the shackles of greed and gratification. A slavery that uses the unseen whip of hedonism. A slavery that the founding fathers could never have imagined.
The positive side of this obsessive desire for more certainly triggers ingenuity, creativity, hard work, persistence and determination. Some of the most important technological inventions and innovations are the outcome of this new age philosophy of 'More". To rephrase the cliched aphorism- Greed is the mother of invention, creativity and innovation become survival skills of this perform or perish environment.
Gratification and indulgence are indeed pleasurable, but surely cannot be the purpose of existence. As I see a swanky sedan pass by with a dignified elegance, I utter a silent prayer for my affluent bothers. I pray to the Lord to redeem these lovely souls from this slavery. A liberation from abject indulgence and lethal ambition. A liberation from the compulsions of aggression and intimidation. Liberation from this dog eat dog psyche that breeds and simmers as competitive hostility and intimidation. I do hope that my next visit might provide me a glimpse of a different statue of Liberty. A statue that wields the torch of enlightenment, a statue that liberates the self from self imposed compulsions and obsessions and emancipates mankind from the curse of affluent arrogance competition and subjugation.
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.".
A very noble and humanitarian bit of legislation that truly bears testimony to the evolution of man.
As I tour the financial district in downtown Manhattan, ( the name Manhattan comes from the Munsi language of the Lenni Lenape meaning island of many hills) this place houses the head offices of all major banking institutions, consulting houses and all the razzmatazz of corporate life, I can perceive a distinct ambience of extravagance and opulence that adorns every nook and corner of this city of glistening Skyscrapers. The streets of Manhattan downtown are paved in gold. The area teems with a culture of affluent indulgence that's so obviously palpable. High rise offices that are like shining, polished anthills, breeding a generation of worker ants. Workers, striving hard to earn more and climb higher in a never ending struggle where only winners are survivors. These tall scrapers symbolise a materialistic hegemony. The highly qualified, intelligent executives who are in fact sophisticated white collared mercenaries who transform corporate offices into war rooms. They indulge in dominance and subjugation by flexing their finacial muscle. This corporate warfare consumes these executives and demands extreme resilience and ruthless pursuit of targets and objectives. Beneath all the sophistication lurks a very raw and primitive killer instinct. Wolves of the Wall street, wearing sheepskins of etiquette, courtesies, donning immaculately tailored Armanis.
The unofficial financial capital of the world throbs with fiscal pulsations, seeped in a never ending lust for more. This land and this corporate culture appears to be gripped in a mutated form of slavery. A slavery that beckons to become the master. A new world order where slavery is not a phenomenon of one controlling another, but slavery of the self by the self. A slavery effected by the shackles of greed and gratification. A slavery that uses the unseen whip of hedonism. A slavery that the founding fathers could never have imagined.
The positive side of this obsessive desire for more certainly triggers ingenuity, creativity, hard work, persistence and determination. Some of the most important technological inventions and innovations are the outcome of this new age philosophy of 'More". To rephrase the cliched aphorism- Greed is the mother of invention, creativity and innovation become survival skills of this perform or perish environment.
Gratification and indulgence are indeed pleasurable, but surely cannot be the purpose of existence. As I see a swanky sedan pass by with a dignified elegance, I utter a silent prayer for my affluent bothers. I pray to the Lord to redeem these lovely souls from this slavery. A liberation from abject indulgence and lethal ambition. A liberation from the compulsions of aggression and intimidation. Liberation from this dog eat dog psyche that breeds and simmers as competitive hostility and intimidation. I do hope that my next visit might provide me a glimpse of a different statue of Liberty. A statue that wields the torch of enlightenment, a statue that liberates the self from self imposed compulsions and obsessions and emancipates mankind from the curse of affluent arrogance competition and subjugation.
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