WHAT'S YOUR STATUS?

“People all around me; saints and sinners,

People spread all over; losers and winners,

I don’t know who these people are & what is their identity,

I know the word status; it has separated people over an eternity.”

The above is my attempt to describe status in poetic form. I hope you liked it.

Over the years, Man has achieved innumerable things. Tasks or problems that were once considered impossible to achieve or solve, bowed down to the will of man. This gave man the confidence to reach further. Civilizations were formed, kingdoms established, dynasties were born and thus progressed man. This development urged man to divide the society into some calculable standards for proper administration. Hence the word status came into being amongst a host of others that defined the difference between man and man.

The word has been defined in Oxford as, “rank, social position, relative importance”. People usually are of the opinion that status is more economic than social. I have observed that people tend to define themselves and differentiate between themselves on the basis of their respective economic positions. Little learning is as dangerous as illiteracy. I may not be able to tell exactly what percentage of the population fall in this category but I am aware that the number is considerably high. Whenever people wish to call themselves economically superior in comparison to others, they say, “oh! Our status is higher” or “pooh! They have a low status”.

In fact, status has little or no connection with economy. This is what I believe no matter what the books may say. A person may have a high status even though he/she is not economically strong and a person may have a low status even if he/she is handsomely rich. Status is, in my opinion, a combination of some elements. To understand the status of a person, these elements or factors have to be analyzed against him/her. The status of the person will then be concluded based upon his/her performance against the factors. The elements are:

1. Education,

2. Occupation,

3. Character, and

4. Family background.

Every passing day, the number of economically strong individuals is increasing. The reason behind, is the economic boom in the country. There is another factor to it. In the last five years in particular, there has been a considerable increase in the talent hunt shows and the pay cheques of cricketers. All of a sudden someone comes out of nowhere and wins one of the many talent hunt shows and in the process, rakes in all the moolah. The new age cricketers are earning faster than they score a century or bowl a delivery. Does all this mean that these fellows and others like them are better than doctors, engineers, professors, lawyers and other such highly educated persons? This is just a part of the comparison. It may happen that the educated lot fails in the third and the fourth category. In that case, even they would not be able to qualify for high social status. The process to judge a person based upon my elements is:

1. Select the person you intend to judge,

2. Check his educational background, (does it matches yours?)

3. If qualifies the above, check his occupation, (is it equivalent to in position to yours?)

4. If qualifies the above, check character, (as compared to yours)

5. Finally, check family background, (again on your own family’s basis)

Don’t judge people on the basis of economy. Status is a very high word and not everyone can achieve it.