Cost of growing casualness

Over the years, many people in this county have habitually done almost everything casually. A casual attitude is quite visible in their personal lives or professional works. Though most of them are aware of the negative side of casualness, for an unknown reason they can't overcome the attitude in general. Some of them are yet to comprehend their casualness let alone its consequences.

There is more than one dictionary meaning of the term casualness. Oxford Learners Dictionary has four meanings. The first meaning is 'lack of care or thought; an apparent lack of care or thought.' The other meanings are: 'the quality of being calm and relaxed'; 'the fact of not being formal'; and 'the fact of not being permanent or regular.' Thus, the primary meaning of casualness is being unconcerned, relaxed, careless, or apathetic.

Look at the pedestrians in Dhaka. Many do not think about others and continue to walk, stop, stand, gossip and smoke casually, obstructing others' movement on footpaths and streets. Some people gather together here and there overlooking the difficulties of passers-by. It has also become a common practice for some rickshaw pullers and ride-sharing motorcycle drivers to gather on the turning points of busy roads and streets, creating obstacles to smooth movement of other vehicles and passers-by.

Many offices, especially government service providers, are a good display of casualness. It is easy to get the required service from these offices. Some members of the staff are less cooperative, if not non-cooperative. The service seekers have to wait long and sometimes pay an additional charge. Even then, the service-providing teams do not deliver the work correctly or accurately in some cases due to their casualness.

The proliferation of casualness brings many hazards and troubles in the citizens' daily lives. In extreme cases, it becomes the cause of deaths of unsuspecting innocents. Take the example of the incident of five people's death under the girder in the capital's Uttara area on Monday last. The girder of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project that fell on a private car killed them. It is not an accident but killing on account of casualness. On the same day, a deadly fire killed at least six workers in the Lalbagh area of Dhaka city. Property---moveable and unmoveable--- was also gutted in the multi-story building. The death of the workers is clearly a result of casualness. In both cases, adequate safety measures were absent, and the in-charges could not care less.

Now the question that troubles minds is, what drives some people to develop and continue the casual attitude. There is no easy answer to the question. For some, it is the lack of family and institutional education. For others, it is the absence of reorientation. Then there is a growing trend of violating rules by a powerful section of society with impunity. It gives a wrong message to others and provokes many to be casual. Thus, casualness is a social problem ---one that is quite deep-rooted. There is a need for teaching the young generation the virtue of responsibility and accountability from an early age both at home and in schools.

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