A Reaction in haste or a patient Response what turns out to be a Game Changer!

“The natural human response is to react but to take complete ownership takes courage.” When confronted with any situation a person instinctively reacts to it, but to take a minute and think about how to respond takes strength of the mind which requires courage. 

There are these numerous day to day events where we humans tend to react or respond . Well but what do we do when we actually react or respond? 

 Reacting or a reaction is an instinctive reply mostly reciprocal or in opposition to a certain situation or person. Whereas a Response which is technically a reaction is quite an engineered reply produced for a positive or negative outcome. Reaction is quite emotional but response takes into account emotional intelligence. Many times we humans often express ourselves in reply to a certain stimulus. This, a number of times, is instantaneous, to take an example let us consider a random argument between two young groups, here people try to bombard or enforce their thoughts on others and they merely react to the situation , the long term repercussions of the same aren’t taken into consideration. Responding or a response is way different, when one responds he or she is conscious of the fact that they are responding to a certain situation in a certain way, which makes the person more responsible. Reaction in most of the cases is not properly studied or consciously thought and hence, reaction doesn’t hold the weightage of responsibility. Whereas, a response that is calculated and well thought of, it carries the weight of your thought behind it. In lasting terms, reactions do not account for your actions whereas responses have long term effects on you as well as others.

The basic difference between reacting and responding is the thought that goes behind each action. In a situation which might be frustrating for a person, reaction would mean your immediate way to deal with it; which usually includes an outburst, a tantrum or the sorts. These reactions help you deal with your immediate emotions but a lot of the time, we regret our outbursts and they may as well hurt the others involved in the situation. If you control your reaction, think about the situation with a calm, sound mind, you realize that an this sort of immediate reaction hardly has better outcomes ahead, instead may end screwing up things. Instead thinking about it calmly, and responding to it responsibly will not only help you deal effectively with the situation but also save you from causing unnecessary conflicts. This though takes a lot more courage because everyone has a natural tendency of giving quick replies but especially in these kind of situations to hold back the ego and respond in correct manner makes one stand out from others.

Reactions often pertain to  propagating a certain agenda. In many political debates we often see that not only the political parties but news channels too propagate  political propaganda. This although does not require any strength, here one can simply oppose for the sake of opposing and spreading hatred. On the contrary in constituent assembly when a certain bill is put forth for discussion by government it is not just opposed but thoroughly studied and corrected by the opposition party. Here some responsible members don't merely react and oppose but actively respond to the point of discussion. Along with it the government also shows equal courage to accept the flaws and rectify them hence due to responsibility shown by both the sides it helps to arrive at a conclusion in the end of a successful debate. Or else we all know how the illogical arguments lead to hours of pointless debate and hence no conclusion is adopted letting the issue put forth to remain unanswered. 

Peeping into the current pandemic situation, there have been a lot of reactions and responses and difference between the two terms has been clearly observed. Initially the fear reaction caused a lot of chaos over the nonsensical and unnecessary rumors.  But a few  chose to respond instead of reacting; instead of letting rumors get them down they chose to stand up and fight the situation to help the society. Here too the response can be seen as not only a constructed reaction but a continuous process of dealing with a tough situation. 

Reactions, or rather instant reactions, have started a new culture in modern society, namely 'the cancel culture'. Without knowing a person’s entire story, understanding their situation, a single action/statement of him or her  is held accountable and the person is more or less banished from the society, made an outcast, “cancelled”. Most of the times, on social media, certain influencer or celebrity doesn't even do the things they’re accused of, but based on mere rumors or half known truths, cancelling the person entirely turns out to be a rash reaction which might or rather does ruin his/her life. Instead taking into account the other side of the person and understanding the person’s case will help in better understanding of people, though to bring about such change through appropriate response requires a positive attitude and honesty. This is not only related to the cancel culture but many other social issues too, here if we decide to keep an optimistic approach and try to maintain a public consensus then it may bring us to solutions of many problems and help us in making progress as a society.

Here it is important to know that as we consciously construct our responses yet sometimes they too may have several adverse effects,  but as it is well thought of it may just not put you in the bigger complications. It is indeed true that in a world where speed is everything reactions are tend to be frequently used than responses, but when thought of long run the responses help us to stay on track and grow as an individual because what is produced instantly perishes early too, but something which is constructed with appropriate approach and persistent efforts has endurance. For the very same reason it is considered courageous. We can't choose the situation but the only choice between reaction or response to it remains with us!