FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Eusebio Gomes
September 2 was a black day for Margao, the second most populous urban area in Goa. Jeweller Swapnil Walke was shot, and then stabbed multiple times by one among the group of robbers in broad daylight witnessed by bystanders who were shocked and also afraid to combat him. This heart-wrenching event sent shivers down the spine. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Macbeth’ Lady Macbeth after the murder of King Duncan by her husband Lord Macbeth says: “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” Lord Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth conspired to kill King Duncan in order to occupy the throne and further their power. Lord Macbeth’s conscience pricked him and he expressed his deep remorse: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood from my hand?” The conscience of the killer of Swapnil and of his accomplices pricks them now.
In her book ‘Winning by Letting Go’, Elizabeth Brenner explains how people in India catch monkeys. They cut a small hole in a box. Then they put a tasty nut in the box. The hole is just large enough for the monkey to put its hand through. But it’s too small for the monkey to withdraw its hand once it has clutched the nut inside. So the monkey has two choices. It can let go of the nut and go free, or it can hang on to the nut and stay trapped. Monkeys usually hang on to the nut. The monkey is a good image of these accused in the murder case and the nut is a good image of their sin. They had earlier criminal records and were entrenched in the criminal activities and like the monkeys were hanging on to their illegal actions and not letting go of them. Now they got trapped and the law will decide their fate.
The Book of Exodus in the Bible speaks about God our Creator giving the Ten Commandments to Moses, the leader of Israelites on Mount Sinai while they sojourned in the wilderness at the foot of the mountain on their way to the Promised Land (the land of milk and honey). Moses received the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God on two tablets of stone to serve as principles of moral behaviour for human race. Three of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship with God and other seven commandments deal with our relationship with our fellow human beings. The fifth commandment says: ‘You shall not kill.’ This commandment demands respect for human life. Human life is sacred because from its beginning in the mother’s womb it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in the special relationship with the Creator and only He has the sole authority to take away life and not any human being. The killer of Swapnil transgressed this commandment and violated the sacredness of life. Shall all the best Arabian perfumes ever sweeten his blood stained hands or shall all the waters from the Arabian Sea wash the blood from his hands? Murder which is most foul is a stain on the sacredness of life.
