Thecla Pereira
The amount of violence that we see in the news over so many things and issues is nobody’s business.
Violence appears in many diverse forms. The end result however is frequently a diminishing of humanness in the world of us humans, disruption and destruction of community life and activities and a future that is bleak and closed to what we are all entitled to. A better future which is our inheritance and that of our children. The question arises, what message are we giving to our children?
It was amusing to see on the Readers Digest a few months ago the picture of a small child with a frowned fore head asking “Are You grown Up”. Throwing around our weight is not for adults!
To end violence sincere efforts are necessary to secure justice for victims of violence, a person is not a mere object, he or she is a human person of transcendence so that to be human is not a matter of merely having food and drink and shelter but the ability to freely choose and follow ones dreams and ones vocation, ones way of life, what to eat and what to dress. In days like this victims should matter most with the uncompromising criterion of promotion and protection of life when it is endangered. Are we busy manufacturing crutches of reservations and subsidies, rather than giving people solid staircases of enlightened ideas?
People are historical subjects, which is to say citizens and members of a Nation. The state and society should generate the social conditions that promote and act as guardians of the rights and allow them to be builders of their own destiny (Pope Francis).
A wonderful life is our inheritance and when we begin to believe that, just as I need a safe life so does the other. We are here for a purpose and that is to be human. What gain do we get by creating hell for people who are trying to live out their lives and seeking a future that will bring peace and well being to their children. What is gone wrong with us?
Protest is not answers but protest creates space for answers. Protests is confrontation not violence, protest is the end of silence, and what protest does is it creates space for the other work to happen “Intolerance betrays want of faith in one’s cause intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.”
Nayamba Sahgal a writer said “I am an optimist; I strongly believe an earthquake might destroy the upper storey of a building but it is much harder to uproot the foundation. Though I am extremely worried about the attacks, the violence and protests. I believe that in the long term Indians will not give up on Secularism and Democracy the foundation our country is built on”well said!
Discovering and pointing out such signs of hope may be very crucial to a peaceful, human life, a life that ensures security to all people irrespective of caste or creed, the world and India is seeking for. I end up with one of those beautiful quotes on non-violence “I always say that non-violence is not the weapon of the weak. It is the weapon of the strong”. With Rabindranath Tagore let us pray “In to that Heaven of freedom let my country awake”
