Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Times of Irrelevance?

I was disheartened to read in the TOI a few days back a poll which asked "Are Bapu's ideals irrelevant today"...to which the majority voted "YES"...and then i wondered if Truth...Peace...Non-Violence...Unity...were really irrelevant in these painful times when the world is overrun by selfish, prude and hypocrites....not to mention those who call themselves politicians and terrorists. Gandhi's ideals where not just his own...he didn't MAKE them...they have always been there. They have existed since time was born...before there was a Gandhi...and they shall exist even after the Gandhi's statues have weathered away and his name is lost within faded pages.

We as people may have changed...we as a nation may have changed...we as individuals may have changed...but have we changed so much that we have come to ignore what is universal? This world has evolved and evolution just doesn't apply to physical objects. Gandhi's notions of peace and truth are as alive as they were when he walked barefoot across this nation. Should we not preform out duty without selfish desires....should we not treat everyone equal regardless of caste, creed, religion....should we not nurture non-violence and tolerance towards each other? As an individual we may not be in a position to do something as significant as walking across to spread the word peace and non-violence...but are we so helpless that we cannot culture within ourselves these simple ideas? Are our minds so crowded with materialistic desires and hatred for our neighbour that we have no space for compassion?

I am no Gandhi or Mother Teresa...and i don't claim to be either...but i don't think i have to be in order to believe in something so simple. Some may call it my nature...others may term it as my incapability to see the world for what it truly is now. I am not trying to see the world for what a fucked up place it already is...and the way we are going about our lives...its not really getting any better. What i AM trying to see...is what this world CAN be.....its just a pity that i so often find myself as the only one to be looking in this direction.

1 comment:

Amardeep said...

there are many looking in the same direction...they dnt hurt anyone and dnt hate anyone....the only thing they can do....one can not change the thinking of whole world...people wnt to live like this and they are living like this... creating violence and hatred...