By Tinky Ningombam
Our memory of the Republic Day has been of bomb threats and curfews. Fast forward to now, things haven`™t changed much. Still warned against crowded markets and public places, we do constantly live in fear and helplessness and rely on luck or God.
The threat of terror hasn`™t changed much in the years, maybe only the who and the when. The people of our country if not safer have become braver; as years passed we have gotten used to the idea that bad things can happen at any point of time. It is not unusual to warn kids to not touch things lying around as they could be bombs. Who knew such days would come? That bombs would sell cheaper than toys?
Most of the people cannot even differentiate between who is fighting over what. If accidents, disease, natural calamity or old age doesn`™t increase your chances of dying, we have a million other people trying to exterminate people for as little reason as possessing a different perspective to `Living` one`™s life.
Be it bomb scares before Republic day, terror attacks or threats of a global nuclear war, human kind has always been under every form of threat mostly of their own choosing. One cannot deride man`™s love for war since time immemorial. And sadly, it will be so as long as one person decides to think he/she is superior than the other, better than the other, more deserving than the other. The sad part is that most of the times, the very people who do not want to be part of any violence of any kind get caught in between and suffer as collaterals. Will there ever be a time when the crime rate is zero in our lifetime? The answer from a realist is a definite No.
`Ah how shameless `“ the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone they say come all their miseries yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains beyond their proper share.` – Homer, The Odyssey
It`™s much like the chicken and the egg theory. The root of the problem is mankind. There will always be men who believe in anarchy.
Hence, we have come to terms with violence in our lives. It is often a muted question, an understanding. We have seen a deal. From a fence maybe, but seen it we have. So much that by now we do not feel the need to inquire why there are elements in the society that are a threat to others. We are not just talking suicidal terrorists here, we are also talking about crimes and violence `“about petty criminals, psychopaths and evil-mongers. Fear can be one of the reasons, fear of confrontation, fear of not being able to defend ourselves. It is another matter that this inherent fear is what works to sell guns but we will leave that interesting discussion for a future date in the column.
We can identify with 3 fundamental reasons for one person to be motivated to harm another. This can be found in any sociological theories or discussions on mankind and war. We tend to get motivated to harm another person, even with the knowledge of the risks that one will have to deal with which can include living in a prison for the rest of the lives or even landing up dead, basically because of 3 problems (1) One`™s identity `“ you do not know who I am, won`™t respect who I am, won`™t accept who I am (2) One`™s possession `“ you deny me what I own, covet what I own, are a threat to what I own(3) One`™s actions `“ you will not allow what I will do, don`™t allow me to do what I want to do.
Many pacifists and peacemakers have tried to come up with solutions `“ organizations, interventions, rules for warfares, treaties, laws, sentences and punishments. But until and unless, every single person on earth have more or less the same ideology of peace, we will never see a terror – free world. There is no universal solution to this. We live with the knowledge that billions of innocent people in the world have succumb to terror and violence, for no fault of their own but having lived amongst humans who thought their ideologies, their perspectives or their problems are worth more than someone else`™s life.
The reality is grim and as we try to survive yet another Republic Day, away from bombs and attacks and violence, we can do nothing more than feel lucky to be alive in spite of everything. Indeed, after the consistent ranting against terror, one sees someone who asks for Peace as some sort of an idealist. But considering the amount of crazy ideals that are already in our world, Peace doesn`™t seem like an absurd idea to endorse after all.
(Ev`rybody`s talking about/ Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism/ This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m./ All we are saying is give PEACE a chance `“ John Lennon )