New York, London, Mumbai – Colombo but Why?
As we see the fires blaze through the Taj Mahal hotel, newspaper reporters accumulate information and pass it through various media and the horrors/sadness of what has taken place in the high octane city of Mumbai, I wonder about the aftermath of this tragic episode. The question of terrorism – the view of one set of minds and so called freedom fighters in another set of minds seems to be the greatest dilemma in the 21st century. The question is “why” – why are there these different set of minds, what causes boys in their prime teens to take to guns, why do we have such tragic moments and why do we never come together to compromise on a solution. As a citizen of Sri Lanka, I have seen my cities blaze many a times and it continues to do so. From Jaffna to Colombo, we have seen tragic deaths, continuous fighting and no solution in sight. Why does this happen? Can we not shed our pride and come together for a common solution? As i wonder about the LTTE and the current Sri Lankan goverment take on each other, I wonder whether such a incident would take place between the Indian government and another entity – whether its in the form of Pakistan, Kashmir militants or internal indigenous terrorists. Or would this turn into a communal fighting that would lead to more escalation of terror, deaths and loss of every value of being human. Deepak Chopra on CNN came out and said that maybe it is time to figure out the roots of these issues instead of creating the backlash that might provoke more terror. The simple theory behind this is “tit for tat” If a young boy saw his father die in the Mumbai blasts – how would he react to anyone who is blamed for these blasts. How would the young girl in Kashmir react to the deaths of her parents through bombs from government forces? The aftermath scenarios at least in such circumstances seem to be very similar.
I am not sure what is going to happen after this tragic episode – but all I can hope for is that communities come together – whether they are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish or of any other faith, ethnicity or background. I can continue to only pray for such hopes.
Tags: blasts, Hope, Life & To Live, Love, Life & To Live, mumbai, Stories, terrorism
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