Reading sentence

Came across the following article this morning:  A judge 'sentencing' a bunch of kids with a 'reading list' rather than a normal custodial sentence.

Graffiti punished by reading

The sentence I gave was harsher than what they would normally have received. Normally it would just be probation which would mean checking in with a probation officer once a month and maybe a few hours of community service and writing a letter to say sorry. Here they had to write 12 assignments and a 3,500-word essay on racial hatred and symbols in the context of what they'd done… It was a lot of work. (Alejandra Rueda, the judge, who drew up the list of 35 books). 

Children learn fast.  And depending on what they are taught, they become that!  Teach them to share and care, to value life and respect everyone, they become exactly that.  And teaching does not mean a classroom mode of lecture.  It is about helping them learn and form convictions for life.

And here's a list of the 12 (of the 35) books the teenagers were told to read and write about, one per month:

1. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
3. The Tortilla Curtain - T C Boyle
4. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. 12 Years a Slave - Solomon Northup
7. The Crucible - Arthur Miller
8. Cry the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
9. My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok
10. Exodus - Leon Uris
11. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
12. Night - Elie Wiesel

Feel a bit guilty and ashamed to state that I've read only 2 of these!  

Murder, most brutal

Everytime I dig out a grown up plant in the garden, I feel a bit bad.  Not because the plant is a rare variety or that it is a 'good' plant for the garden but because it has taken more than a year to grow to the stature it is.  And my act of 15 minutes is going to undo all of that year's slow painstaking effort of the plant to keep growing.

The same logic is applicable to people as well.  Whenever someone is killed, however or for whatever reason, that single act of an instant negates years of growth.  Not only of that person but of all those involved in the life of that person, right since infancy.  Surviving all those years of childhood's vulnerabilities mostly riding on the gracious and generous sacrifice of parents, the risks and dangers of youth, dodging those viruses and fatal bacteria, carving out a life, building up relationships and a worldview... all of it, everything is destroyed by one senseless act of someone.  And most often why does one murder?  Merely because something the person said or wrote is not to my liking, or because the other person's belief structure is different from that of mine... If only one would weigh all what goes into making a life against that one particular differing aspect, just for one silent minute, may be several lives would be spared.  

Online Trolls

Reading news online has been a habit since long.  Earlier I used to read also the comments that would be posted below the news article. This was a continued habit from reading the 'letters to the editor' which appeared in the print version.  However, I stopped reading the comments a few years since.  Purely for the venom they spit and for the hatred with which they utter words.  I've long been convinced that these comments were purposely posted by appointed people, just to tarnish the image of anything worthwhile.  Most often there would not be any rhyme or reason for their hateful tirade.

Yesterday there was an article in The Times (UK) by a person describing the online (malign) campaign of the ruling party BJP in India.  A similar one appeared in The Guardian on Dec. 27, 2016. Firstpost (dated Dec. 28, 2016) begins thus

It's something that will eventually catch up with you. From disparaging and vituperative remarks to disgusting sexual innuendos, rape and death threats, hateful memes and an unapologetic and arrogant attitude, trolling is a routine affair these days. There is hardly any originality in it anymore. 

But when the ruling government of a democracy carefully constructs, contrives and calibrates a social media culture where dissent towards a leader or an ideology or even a party is reciprocated in the worst possible manner, it is a matter of extreme worry and it becomes obligatory to initiate a dialogue and debate and especially when it becomes part of our daily existence.

It confirms my view that there is a systematic hijacking of the social media and the internet open polls by political parties for backing their sinister motives and worse, silencing the democratic voice of dissent. A clever move indeed but a very dangerous one.  No opinion contrary to the ruling party is spared.  If the person speaking against any policy or decision of the party is a woman, the text is at times very nasty.  Every news or incident, political or not, is somehow commented upon to praise the party of choice and shower abuses on anyone dissenting.

People of India are still very gullible when it comes to having convictions and forming opinions. They'd rather go with the majority than stand alone or take a stand against.  In such a context to sway one's opinion in someone's favour, such smear campaigns work extremely well.

What has religion to offer?

The recent outbursts against Islam - camouflaged under the term 'terrorism' - is not a very healthy sign of things to come.  Every action, yielding a reaction which again becomes the source for a reaction.  Sooner than later, there would be violence and hatred and suspicion and most dangerously anarchy everywhere.  No one would trust anyone.

This brings me back to the question that I've been battling with myself: The relevance of Religion? Responding the reactions to the murder of the cartoonists in France, a person has this to say:

When we get stuck in a religious debate we are never going to win, we miss the point, which is that extremists are offering young people a sense of belonging, an outlet for adventure, and some kind of enhanced status. To combat this, we have to appeal to them as young people more than we have to appeal to them as Muslims. (Here's the source). Emphasis added.

So what does religion offer? Merely a sense of belonging, an adventure, an enhanced status? Then anything that offers these is a 'religion'...?

When humanity is endangered...

The inhuman treatment of the Jews through eviction from their homes, separation of families, torture, labour camps, death ... makes one wonder how a human being can stoop to such a bestial behaviour. The worst is that it was not of one person (Hitler alone), but so many who perpetuated it (the Nazis). There may be several reasons why each individual choose to be so and not stand up against a system of dehumanisation. Yet, the fact remains, a whole nation, a whole race was targetted and almost annihilated. And their only crime? Being born a Jew!

The same story continues, more or less, when security forces storm and destroy three villages on Dantewada, Orissa. Their crime? Being labelled Maoists. If this is how each one tries to settle and eliminate every threat, there would be no one left. Each action of one would eliminate some but give rise to more. Everytime a jawan is killed, there are several who are inspired by his bravery and hence willing to join the armed forces. So too, everytime an innocent tribal is tortured and dehumanised, there will be several who would join the Maoists, not for its ideals but as against the armed forces!

At Muniguda, Orissa

Walking through the ransacked convent and Church at Muniguda, Orissa I was trying to picture to myself the actual day. As Aquinas showed me the video and led Fr Wilson and myself through the destroyed Church and convent, I found myself rather calm and resigned. It was easy to get agitated and angry but somehow I could not. The hatred that led to that riots in December 2007 is still difficult to comprehend. To review them years later in a peaceful atmosphere was another experience: one of retrospective evaluation, of trying to find out the real 'why'?

The Church debris has been cleared (the photo is of last year) and plans are underway to renovate the Parish Church which has now been handed over to the Salesians. However the convent has been untouched since that day in December 2007. The burnt records, jeep, cots, chapel, kitchen, rooms and the corridors still bear a silent witness to what happened that day in broad daylight. However one may walk through those corridors or watch videos, the agony of those who lived that day there and had to flee for their dear lives can never really be fathomed or understood.

Blessed are those who do not hate!

It was nearly a month ago that I decided to stick to matters that are relevant while speaking rather than enter is loose talk that often begins by an innocent grumbling session. Though I've been successful to a large extent, as I review my own resolution, I realise I can do much better. So I decided to stick by it for some more time, till I have to make a valiant effort to think or speak otherwise!!

Confirming my belief that the more we grow and the higher we go up the ladder of responsibility the more guarded and defensive we become. We tend to always "protect" ourselves... from God knows what! Children, on the other hand, are least bothered. They like to explore, see things anew, they are not intimidated or too self-conscious. There is the interesting conversation in famous novel The Jungle book, wherein Mowgli is "taught to be civilized" and at one of his 'classes' he hears the word 'enemy' and he asks, "What's that?" He gets the reply, "the one you hate." And the immediate query from Mowgli, "What's hate?"

Who knows Jesus must have spoken of other beatitudes too, which were somehow not recorded and this one would surely be one of those: Blessed are those who do not hate, for they shall always be child-like!