Time For A New Generation - New Breed of Bhutanese

In my Blog post of 20th January, 2022, I made a distinction between “Dasho” and “Draksho”. I know that very few, if any at all, would have stopped to think through the implications of what I meant. That is why I have said many times in the past that the Bhutanese are not a thinking society – we do have a mind but it is akin to a bottomless pit – it can absorb any amount of information poured into it – but we will not process the information.

Yesterday morning’s following Kuensel article proves my point.

The article’s headline reads: “Human-wildlife Conflict in Kurtoe gewog”. But the body of the article talks of the wild animals tearing down fortifications, walking away with hundreds of birds, cattle, and animals – even tethered ones. The villagers are heard moaning that acres upon acres of crops like maize and paddy are destroyed every year by the wild animals.

And yet, the government calls it “Human-wildlife Conflict” – an outright mindless utterance! If they had a mind, they would know that there was never a conflict – the wildlife walked in, grabbed the animals and birds and destroyed the crops, and walked away scot-free.

According to the Kuensel article the Forestry official claimed that the affected villagers do not share information about wildlife predation. On the contrary, the villagers claimed that the Forest authorities ignored their requests – thus they stopped informing them.

Now who are the liars here?

Sadly this has been going on for many decades – and in all likelihood it will perpetuate for many more decades – unless His Majesty does something dramatic - other than cajoling His subjects every National Day, year after year.

His Majesty would have by now realized that this generation of dashos and sycophants are totally beyond redemption. It is clear that every effort of His Majesty at course correction will come to naught – because His subjects will never, ever improve. However, His Majesty still has more than a quarter of a century left to rule this country. But like one of my readers commented, “No amount of squeezing the same old pebbles is going to expel oil”.

I wish and pray that His Majesty consider my idea – that of starting 6 new large schools in the rural areas. Populate them with children aged no more than 5 years. Begin the process of molding their minds and instilling in them the long lost values of duty, dedication, selflessness, commitment, responsibility and patriotism. Start afresh with untainted and unblemished minds – from the ground up – on a clean slate.

Create a whole new generation of Bhutanese who will grow up to be different from their parents – a totally new breed of Bhutanese who are nothing like this generation.

Obliterate and obscure the present - usher in a new era - introduce a new breed of Bhutanese.

If His Majesty were to start now, by the end of his reign in about 25 years from now, He would have created a whole new generation of Bhutanese who will respect the rule of law, who will understand that selling car quota is a shameful crime, that being responsible is more than fulfilling a duty. His Majesty would have ushered in an era where citizens will aspire to be Drakshos rather than be dashos; take pride in doing their duties with diligence and dedication, and above all, value others’ time, including their own,

But one thing baffles me – who will administer these new schools and who will teach the children? Well, we will need to get around this perplexity, somehow.