Glimpses of myself in the light of what happens around

Was shocked to hear of another death - that of a priest - within a month. When Venkayamma said they should have at least some respect towards priests, to avoid all such things, I retorted "It's nothing to do with priests or religious, it's a HUMAN LIFE!" But then I realised, I was not so perturbed when I heard of the Orissa killings, not when I saw the photos of the victims of violence in Orissa, not when I read so many reports and bits of news on the paper and net. I was disturbed because it was a PRIEST who was killed! This made me accept what Prathap has always been telling me, our secular identity, "aboveness" is not always too deep. My emotions and rationale however liberal and social they may be, when it comes to my own - be it people, place, things, history, language, culture... - I AM affected. My reflections and sentimental graph when learning about the happenings in Mangalore is surely higher than when I read about Orissa - though I 'know' very well that in comparison to what happened in Orissa, the happenings in Mangalore are but passing.