"Beauty is truth,
truth beauty,
that is all Ye know on Earth,
that is all Ye need to know..." - John Keats


Thursday 25 February 2010

On the roadside man's message...

Today I was passing near the High-court,when I saw a man standing in the middle of the crowd holding a banner. The banner read,"Many communities eat cattle as meat,not JUST Muslims..."
There is something in that statement which deals with the specific issue of cornering muslims over the issue of cattle slaughter...
It is true that, Muslims are one of the communities,among innumerable other communities who have cattle as their food,what people here in India fail to realise is the unnecessary pin-pointing of Muslims...
The matter hasn't stopped there,people across the globe,ever since the Islamic extremism has made its point at 9/11,have started to view a human being who follows the path of Islam as a terrorist...
If this day,the menace of the global terrorism as grown to become an international threat,we can't blame just the fanatics,we can't just blame the faulty governments,we can't just blame the war crimes...
There is a bigger fuel which has burnt the engine of religious fanaticism,especially fuelling the Islamic fanaticism,and that fuel has been our attitude...
The way we have cornered a turban wearer,a Muslim,with our eyes of suspicion has force-fed the ranks of Islamic terrorist brigades...
It is our misguided paranoia that has made the Muslims,who would have otherwise been our friends,brothers,take up arms to kill millions of innocents...
If instead of us blaming the whole,novel society of Muslims,if we join hands in accepting the Muslims,who have followed Allah's teachings devoutly,without misguided interpretations of the sacred text of Koran,which teaches peace and brotherhood among all men,I am sure,the forces which try to disrupt our peace,shall shatter...
For once,if We shed our hatred,suspicion and anger,maybe someday,they will follow the suit...
What remains important factor which needs to be taken into account to solve this issue of terrorism,is to not allow those good Muslims, to lose faith on their status in the society,they deserve respect and dignity...
More than I do,or any other non-Muslim does,because they alone have shown the faith,strength and courage to endure the cornering that we have did to them...
They have shown the supreme strength of character to master the anger or frustration and believe in the path of Goodness,in a world filled with antagonistically feeling people...
As Gandhiji rightly said,"Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love."

© Karthik Adithya Singaraju

3 comments:

When Chimp Met Monkey.... said...

Very true....its not only about the Muslims yaar.these politicians are using racism & patriotism as a wepons of mass destruction for their advantage. I mean as humans we should look at these things in a neutral way. I'm a Sri Lankan. These days the politicians are using patriotism to cover up all the corruption. Its an old trick used in hunting. The ancient ppl used to carry a bright torch in-front of the hunting party when they go on hunting in the night. The animals are deceived by this bright light and neglect their other senses and became an easy pray. Same thing will happen to ppl who are decieved by racism and patriotism. Yet they are too dumb to understand it. Whom to be blamed yaar. Its a sad sad situation.
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it" (George Bernard Shaw).
Once i tried to explain the above statement to a man he ended up calling me a traitor who betrays his own country. What can we do...?

Just Another Observer... said...

I feel patriotism is a wrong choice of word mate...:)
The term for what you are trying to explain is Nationalism... These days,it has even been considered to bear a negative connotation,as nationalism overlooks harmony,brotherhood,mutual compassion n appreciation of others... I personally love my country,I am patriotic in a sense that I am proud of my country and will do whatever to defend it and keep its pride intact,but I will never venture to over-confidently state that my country is the best... The best reply to nationalism is humanism... I believe in humans not in the barriers created by them...:) But I am glad you raised a good point...:)

Just Another Observer... said...

Another point I would like to add is,Nationalism is best answered by Internationalism...:):)