MONDAY MUSE (3 March 2008)
LEARNING LESSONS
There are days in history which are painful.
Yet if we learn from our mistakes,
we can ensure we are not revisited by
the same painful history and its accompanying hurt…
It is been two years since Goa joined the mainstream of the organised communal
violence. After the riots, there was more shock than outrage, because Goans had
actually relied on the myth that their famed communal harmony could never
succumb to such brutal violence. The smug belief, that peaceful Goa could never
be synonymous with hateful agendas, came crashing down.
The seed of hate gets planted in the fields of prejudice. And these prejudices
are ploughed by the divisions of religion, ethnic, regional, economic and every
divide that sees one human being as lesser than oneself. And when, this hate in
full bloom is harvested, the community sees the final manifestation of communal
politics which is communal violence.
In the aftermath of any riot, as peace returns, everyone, save the brutalised
victims, starts getting complacent. And the vested interests, on all sides,
start planting the seeds of hate again, under the garb of nationalism,
religion, ethnic pride and the like. These messengers of hate talk about
“teaching them a lesson”. And they forget that lessons are not meant to be
taught. Lessons are meant to be learnt.
To BE BETTER is to have learnt from the lessons. We must learn the lessons for
ourselves. We need to sift the grain from the chaff. We have to begin with
cleansing our own minds of prejudice and hate. We need to initiate and
participate in dialogues to undo the divisions within human beings. We must
strive to BE BETTER as human beings by actualizing the humane values of
sensitivity, tolerance and peace.
The lessons of history are meant for learning, not fighting…
Prejudice can never be the path to BE BETTER as a human being.
yours-in-hope
Pravin-da
3 March 2008, Goa, India.
Since 2004, the MONDAY MUSE series (based on JCI-India’s annual theme) is
penned by PRAVIN SABNIS - a life coach with a passion to connect people to
their passion & potential. He employs creative competencies in theatre &
trekking in his UNLEARNING UNLIMITED workshops conducted for leading corporate
& other groups.
Pravin K. Sabnis
visit: www.unlearningunlimited .blogspot.com
www.poems-pravinsabnis.blogspot.com
www.monday-muse.blogspot.com
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