India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall always strive to be worthy of it. I shall give respect to my parents, teachers and elders and treat everyone with courtesy. To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion. In their well being and prosperity alone lies my happiness.
Do these lines mean anything to us? These words are recited in schools and are familiar to almost every school going child and are engraved in our minds. These words teach us a lot about brotherhood; respect and pledge our love for our country etc, but do we practice this? We have in India a fabric of high tolerance power among all our brethren that is very strong from time immemorial, but it seems to have lost now. Unfortunately, I am pained to see some recent holes in the so-called fabric. The attack on a human life is an attack against the sacredness and dignity of human life. We must know this and it is high time we learn to respect each other. If animals have rights and laws, then why not human beings? The ongoing tragedy that is happening in India is a shame and disgrace in the name of religion. Don't they have mothers, sisters and daughters, if they have then how can they burn alive pregnant women, nuns, priests and others? Does any religion teach a human to treat others in such a cruel manner? Every possible indignity, obscenity and torture that is meted out against the helpless is to be condemned by one and all. No one is spared be it men, women, children; everyone is a target of these brutal atrocities. If no action is taken and if one keeps quiet for the innocent blood that is shed, soon they themselves will fall victim. The Living God is very patient. We should never test God's patience. One wonders in today's age how human beings can kill or brutally attack others in the name of religion! If these kinds of atrocities are not put to an end, then, who will go out to serve others, much less who will give up their homes, families and friends and serve as priests and nuns? But today we are living in a different era. Unfortunately, hatred is the norm of the day! Who can tolerate this brutality and that too on the priests and nuns who have sacrificed their families and home and taken the cross and followed the Lord? In today's world, there is more hunger for love and appreciation than for bread was aptly said by Mother Teresa. India was known for non-violence but it has become a land of extremists and murders. Is there no religion or spirituality in our country any more? Only violence, destruction, fear and no freedom? Is our constitution alive or dead? God forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Let us have a country, where all citizens will have equal status, equal respect and equal opportunity to learn, earn and live. Let us have a country where not even a child will be deprived of education due to poverty, where the funds of state protect and support the weak. Let us have a country, where the eligible among the socially backward are supported financially for their livelihood and education, to ensure the improvement of their standard of life and hence qualify them to compete and perform. Let us have a country, where no body will be discriminated or protected on the basis of religion, caste or creed. Let us have a country, where no community, caste or religion will be honoured by special privileges or dishonoured by denying equality what so ever. Let us have a country where no section of people will be discriminated or humiliated against the other and where the poorest of the poor shall have three square meals daily and a shelter to sleep in. A country where every body gets the freedom for option of their choice of education, without discrimination by religion, caste or creed, where due rights of a section of citizens are never deprived and snatched off. Let us have a country, where our young people will be employed on merits without considering their religion, caste or community. A country, where the poorer will be assisted by the richer in all respects without favour or discrimination on the ground of religion, caste or community. I believe that a human being is not to be handled as a tool but is to be respected and revered, hence let us unite to become equals. Every outcry against the oppression of some people by other people, or against what is morally hideous is the affirmation of the principle that a human being as such is not to be violated. Many conflicts in our world are caused when people are intolerant of the ways that others see the world. Learning tolerance is an important cornerstone to creating a better world. Let us unite to escape from deceptions. Let us unite to make India really great! Let our people defeat the deceitful tactics of all concerned and rise to establish a heavenly India of our dream! Every person in all religions should come together as one big family and stop this. These people who are doing this are not from any religion. No religious person whether Hindu, Muslim or Christian will ever do this kind of brutality and cruelty to his brothers/sisters. I am sure that most of those who are hell bent to destroy and kill others, are they themselves educated in Christian educational schools. Let's pray that the violence ends, and does not spread to the rest of India. Christians in general are a small minority in India, and because we're small, should not mean we're "different," such persecution should not happen. And last of all, let's pray for those who are obviously hurt and angered for whatever reason, and who are indeed, good people deep down inside, but are just blinded by emotions right now. We are all children of the same God, and it breaks God's heart to see us fighting like this. Anger and intolerance are the twin enemies of correct understanding, was rightly said by Mahatma Gandhi. Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compassion. And love. The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbour as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. Finally let me end with a quote by Ann Emerson " The essences of all religions speak of peace, compassion, justice and the interconnection of all life". Arlette Azavedo
