Seated in my chauffeur-driven car (disclaimer: as I am visually impaired and do not drive after daylight), I told my 17 and 15 year old children to refrain from discussing India and Pakistan. Living in a multi-cultural country from where we or rather I, have spoken about issues that are close to my heart, it certainly is no hard task to accomplish. Again, I acknowledge that I do speak from a place of privilege.
So coming back to asking my kids not to discuss the South Asian turmoil each and everyone of us is afflicted with and suffering from. It was not because there is any fear involved especially for my kids, or what must be said and not said. And this is what I explained to them as well. I asked them to refrain because it only leads to war mongering… the jingoistic compulsions of eliciting a reaction… very adolescent in nature… who is better… usually you yourself are… there is almost never a conversation… about what we stand to lose. And I do acknowledge that I may be wrong in asking my kids (even though it’s highly unlikely that they will listen.. such is the vibe and clime!)
For the past few years… I have been told… reprimanded .. reproached… coaxed to stop being so fixated when it comes to hate, bigotry… and to focus on health. And this to a person who is in fact living a life of privilege, who can very well be labelled an arm-chair warrior. (in retrospect… this also seems a lot like self-importance… but I just feel like rambling today)
We are all part of the madness… we are all stakeholders… and we play roles in creating all the noisy hullabaloo.. heightening, worsening with each passing moment. This madness is overwhelming us… what it is trying to do is make sure we lose focus on what is important…
I am mulling over thoughts… ideas… Peace is subversion… liberty from bigotry… fascism is subversion… speaking against warmongers and war mongering is subversion… forbearance… tolerance… thinking without prejudice… can these be forms of subversion amidst all the hate, vitriol, fascist bigotry that is fueled by the powers that be… peace versus patriotism… humanity vs patriotism… what is patriotism… the more I see it… the more I feel it seems to only be a tool that drives a wedge… it has… as has always been the case… with the powers that be … a tool to manipulate nations… the masses. Divide and conquer!! Not just nations… countrymen and women… but relationships enriched that are borderless… that are beyond the artificially inseminated Lines of Control!
What can one individual do… amidst all the hullabaloo… the hate… when common sense loses ground or is buried by the media war machine… where hyper-fascist jingoism validates a convoluted system, an establishment and justifies loss of our humanity, empathy and compassion… but these are mere buzzwords now … that are being frowned upon.
And.. do we need to ask ourselves… what is courage?? What is bravery??
We live in a mad, mad, mad world! How to navigate it… make sense of it…?? perhaps … it is not the time to make sense of anything… it is one step forward… two steps back… Perhaps the only thing one … I .. can do… is try to hold on to my sanity…
For me, sanity is holding on to compassion as a form of subversion.. speaking against warmongering… I do not claim to know what is right from wrong anymore… but let hope be a form of rebellion… let peace be a form of resistance…
Image by Victoria from Pixabay
