A CENTURY OF VIOLENCE

Great events are castled away as hype; immaculate addressing for the social good in totality becomes efficient marketing and the Devil’s advocate is the new humanitarian. The conjoining of one year to the next through the sensitive thread of one night, a span of mere hours is a miracle. Waking up into a “new” year is a fascinating experience that stimulates blissful childhood memories. The innocence that touches us then is fresh, juvenile and calls for amassing happiness by the dozen. It’s the proverbial ‘age of innocence’ that is blindfolded to a fault by love and care and remains impervious to the depths of the dark angles of a mature human mind. Each 31^st December brings an end to a century, a fragmented birth of a new one too. What we experience is permeated in our senses, dominating our behavior for just one month, one week, or may be a day. It depends on how validated it is with regards to the media image, peer type-casting rules and a sensible citizen stereotype. The haunting question is hence put forth: What have we become?

At a major media get-together this year, peace leader Dalai Lama used the phrase “A Century of Violence” to sum up the world through his forlorn eyes. When a personality so occupied with securing tranquility opens up to the public treatment of brawny vocabulary, all and sundry must take a moment to stop and ponder. It signifies a mighty blow to the system which calls itself clean and cries high of democracy. What Dalai Lama might have gone through while reciting these fateful words is food for thought! Being a saint of a faith primarily focused on ‘Ahimsa’, the man understands that use of harsh tongue is a convictable sin. We find he succumbed nevertheless to the call of his heart. It was a cry to the universe; an open question out in the void, one for which he needs an answer but comprehends without a solution. When did religion become so weak? Since when does it require human crutches to lateralize? This century?

They say technology has over-taken human senses. That is not fair! The culpability for unjustified acts of violence is non-transferable. If anything, social connections have empowered in the electronic age. Classic tales of keeping those close to your heart, near to your eyes irrespective of physical loci have come true. Connecting within seconds has innumerable advantages. If this doesn’t sound like seeds of revolution, what will? Social thinkers beg to differ. Their say on the matter: Techno-Age comes with strings attached; it leads to fragmentation in real world while creating a web of unreal relationships through thin air. Counter-Point argument: A simple question, How so? According to them, everything non-living, with an intelligence of its own is another point at which a finger can be pointed whenever human-beings go wild. If only they would hear how nonchalant they sound!

Every time we commit to an underlying peccadillo, a graceful seed possibly lying dormant deep inside us is brutally murdered. The hypocrisy that dominates us is the white screen which we project for the equally duplicitous world all around us. The moment this slumber is given up, a new dawn can be expected. As you make merry in the grand opening of 2013, find time to figure out what would really make this a “new” year. Point that finger to yourself; For once in life, Take the blame; if your life still remains the same you have authority to sue the writer, but before you take the obligatory step, by all means, introspect. Finding answers is a real skill, one which pays back bountifully. Try it. All it takes is a little sincerity.