Reality and Escape

Ayn Rand in her famous essay ” The Objectivist Ethics” writes the following –

” Man is free to choose not to be conscious, but not free to escape the penalty of unconsciousness: destruction.”

With the gift of free will, we can willingly choose to evade reality but we cannot really escape from its
dire consequences. In India, the reality of rural alienation, poor governance, and the trampling of tribal rights
in the name of development was deliberately pushed aside but then we paid the price when extremism, Naxalism, and separatism hit us.
Climate change too is the reality and the big elephant in the room that we now are brushing aside
but the heatwaves, cyclones, landslides, and other such extreme weather events cannot hide in the closet.

Even in life, a problem once surfaced will not go away just because we have chosen not to pay attention to it.
the disease goes away only when the body gets treatment. So, postponement only delays and worse amplifies the problem.