SHARED THOUGHTS – 18.12.2015
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Humanity
& being Human.
In recent
weeks, we witnessed some catastrophes of mayhem, destruction and havoc – some
man-made, while others being natural acts of God. The incidents will have long
time impact not only in our lives, but also in the lives of future generations.
A group of
young men and women, plan and execute an attack by random shooting .. with
assault rifles, mowing down innocent people who just happened to be at the
wrong spot at the wrong time, in the line of fire... There is no rhyme or
reason to choose the targeted victims or for the attack itself; the only
objective being to spread terror in the name of a religion, as if this act of
wanton violence is sanctioned by the religious edicts ! In one moment,
hundreds of families are dealt a blow from which to recover will be nearly
impossible.
The objective
is fulfilled. The perpetrators will now choose a new site for their next act
and there will be new unwary victims waiting to be killed. The story goes on.
The next site
has been chosen. The lead performers have finalised the script. This time it is
a wedded couple with a child, whose ambition is not to bring up the child to be
a worthy citizen of the land, but to render the child an orphan, in the greater
cause of a faith. To this cause, they carry with them to death, several
innocent young men and women whose only fault was to have trusted the killer to
be a part of their Team.
Ironically,
around this time, the world marked the first anniversary of a massacre of
scores of school children elsewhere, in the name of the same faith. The
murderers then, fired aimlessly into the class rooms, instantly snuffing out
the dreams and ambitions of children who are no party to the proxies at play.
Not a day passes,
without news of death & destruction claiming innocent lives at some place
or other. Most of them being in the name of a faith.
Paradoxically,
the victims of all this fanatic blood bath is the ‘faith’ itself in whose name
this is done. It is therefore a challenge to those in the faith, to rise up and
re-group to defeat the enemy within and restore the image and fairness of the
faith, before being engulfed to a point of no return.
The ambitious
hopefuls to lead the free world, have already pledged to isolate those within
the ‘faith’ much to the discomfort of the rest of the world. Similar sentiment
of coldness shared by a good segment, is not to going to help the cause and
bring warmth among the fellow citizens of nations that must play a lead part to
set right the aberrations within the ‘faith’.
The future
world is now being united into one large homogeneous continent sans boundaries.
The so called boundaries that existed to demarcate nations are irrelevant in
the cyber world. Therefore, it is imperative that all man-made faiths strive to
find humanity within and help the cause of peaceful life by being simply good
humans.
Towards this
aim, a serious introspection may be needed to mellow the rigid rules that
govern the faith, to make it more moderate and accommodating. A good beginning
has been made in this part of the world, with thinkers and writers joining
officials to voice concern where there must be more visible yielding in the
larger interest. To insist that others have not understood the peaceful
nature of the faith is one side of the coin; the other side being to understand
why there is this perceived phobia against the faith. A midway that will pave
the path for peaceful co-existence is now the only choice ; ignore this at your
own peril, seems writ large on the wall. .
For the sake of humanity, we have to be good humans. “Imagine what seven billion humans could accomplish if we all loved and respected each other.” A.D.Williams.
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It takes a natural calamity to bring together humans to realise the presence of Humanity. Nature is a great leveller. Just as water finds its own level, no obstruction seemed strong enough for the surge of water to find its own level in a sprawling metro in recent days. The flood water taught many a great lesson to the teeming millions, who were caught unawares.
The bodies
harbouring blown up self esteem, bloated ego and hoarded riches had no
hesitation to bring their palms together to beg for mercy before the mighty
nature. Rich and famous raised their hands for drinking water, as they would on
other days, to acknowledge their fans. Fancy cars at the porch and hefty bank
balance proved all too very irrelevant, before the priority to survive the
deluge. Branded as poor but noble men and women with nothing to lose, rose as
heroes and heroines not for fame but to define a culture. They proved by their
simples acts of selfless service that, not all that’s needed to survive can be
bought with money. Such acts opened the hearts of many, who threw open their
gates to allow into their house, anyone who would want to, for any needs. Word
spread and very soon, the city was one big cauldron where compassion and
consideration overflowed, outwitting the flood waters.
“Before
becoming a Muslim, a Sikh, a Hindu or a Christian, lets become a Human first.”
Guru Nanak. The individual’s faith and beliefs were set aside in the common
cause for survival. It was not the story of survival of the fittest, but the
fittest rising above the flood waters to bring to life the weakest. Stories
abound of selfless acts of sacrifice and bravery, which give hope that the
future of humanity within this culture, is bound to thrive, no matter how much
faiths and beliefs try to divide.
We realise
the futility of such man-made barriers, which nature chose to discard most
callously. With the receding of water and normalcy being restored, it is hoped
that the normalcy would not be restoring the man-made barriers. People of all
faiths have amply demonstrated that a calamity can bring together all humans to
share the spirit of good humanity. This spirit should survive just as the
people of all faith survived to live another day casting aside social status,
caste, wealth, gender and religion. .
In the end,
only kindness matters. Chennai, hats off to you.
“Now that we
have learned to fly in the air like birds and dive in the sea like fish, only
one thing remains – to learn o live on earth like humans.” George Bernard Shaw.
We cannot
control natural disasters. We cannot control or put a stop to all of the hate
and violence in the world. We, each of us, can only try to make a positive
difference no matter how small, by keeping our capacity to love, strong and
alive. Love empowers us to be a better person, kinder, more caring and … it is
contagious.
These are the
lessons that must find place in our outdated school curriculum, to open the
minds of youngsters before they get enveloped by pride & prejudices as they
become drivers of society.
Have a safe &
peaceful week ahead.
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