Driving force of the current times: Appraisal by the Society

Every individual has a minimum of two forces driving them. The first one is their inner desire and the second is the Society. The evaluation given by the Society impacts the individual's decision making either consciously or subconsciously. Subconsciously impact is because the Society's review impacts the individual's spouse/children/parents which in-turn impacts the thought-process of the individual.

The Society reviews and categorizes everyone as either Dim-Wit, Average, or Exceptional; only the criteria for this classification changes based on the age group of the individual.

• For the age group of 5-25, the evaluation is purely based on their Academic abilities. Some might argue that that is not true and excelling sport is also a criteria, but if you observe closely an one who excels at sports but is academically dim-wit is remembered only as a dim-wit whereas an academically exceptional who excels at sports is remembered as an exceptional kid with a bright future.


• For the age group of 25-35, the Society reviews and categorizes the individual based on the the job and academics (in that order). An academically brilliant individual pursuing PhD or working for a start-up is considered inferior to a college-dropout with a job at GM/IBM/Microsoft/Shell/Goldman. In some cultures the Society also places importance on girlfriend/boyfriend for this age group; the lack of one is detrimental to the overall score as adjudged by the society.


• For the individuals between 35-50, the criteria changes to money and family (in that order). Society does not care if you are a researcher or social worker, if you do not have Money and a family at this age, you are definitely considered a dim-wit. To be considered Exceptional in this age-group you must have above average income/savings, assets (home, cars, etc.) and a family.


• For the age group of 50-75, the criteria remains similar to the earlier age groups, but in addition the evaluation of the individuals' children is added to their scorecard. Just to illustrate, an individual whose children are exceptional gets an automatic boost in their personal scorecard; similarly an individual whose kids drop-out of school would drop down a spot in the final scores.


• Post 75, health of individual and their spouse is added to the earlier age group's criteria.

Both the driving forces act independently propelling the life into different directions. If one follows his dreams, it is very likely they will regret or will be made to regret due to the evaluation of the Society. This fear acts as a dampener to the self-driving-force.

Although the exact definition of the age groups might be different for every culture, such an evaluation exists everywhere.

Individuals who move down in the Society scores because of change in their age-group and hence change in criteria find it very difficult to cope. We have to be watchful throughout our life and be aware of the sometimes divisive nature of the two forces. We must also strike a balance between the two forces to ensure we do not become cynical towards the society as we progress through our lives.