Remember your humanity, and forget the rest - Albert Einstein
These are testing times, the ones we live in. There’s hatred, bloodshed, and war all around; you just have to switch on the TV or log on to the Internet and your eyes will witness horrific scenes with one thing in common, blood. Decapitated bodies, black flags, more black flags and decapitated bodies, warplanes of Saudi and Israel pounding people who can’t retaliate on the same level, random shootings in church, killing of blacks by white cops; this is mostly what occupies the space in our heads these days. There used to be a time, when news channels would provide with blurred images of gory, bloody scenes, and those days are well past us now because we have grown used to violence and gut wrenching, scenes of blood and mangled bodies. Human nature I tell you! We are capable of adapting to just about anything and maybe that’s why we continue to survive despite the odds and the violence because we have adapted ourselves to get used to violent stuff. The warning before videos and images about them being graphic should be a deterrent to watching them but now it actually fosters the urge to watch them and we have the humongous terrorist organisation, so called Islamic State to thank for it, for all those videos that train us in beheading people, or bombing their heads off, or drowning them, or, well I suppose you get the idea. In any case hate is the order of the day; hatred for colour, religion, nationality, sect, gender, democracy and what not. An elimination drive seems to be in order to reshuffle the world, to exterminate all others that we hate and to rule supreme. It is almost heartbreaking as you realise that the only emotion we feel very acutely is hatred for others.
Even
though the picture of the world that I just painted, one of eternal darkness,
hate and hopelessness is true there are times when humanity and love take over
in the bleakest and the rarest of times. Things that make your heart glow from
the inside and restore your hope in that dying flame of humanity. I came across
one such show of affection and love recently on Facebook, where Palestinian Christians
were distributing ‘iftar’ (an evening time meal to break the fast in month of Ramadan)
to Palestinian Muslims as they were caught in traffic jams in the holy month of
Ramadan, thanks to the Zionist Israeli checkpoints. It was so fulfilling and satisfying
to see young Christian men jumping around the traffic handing out water bottles
and other eatables to the Muslims so that they could break their fast,
irrespective of the religion they followed or the beliefs they held. Another post
that I came across was one of a Palestinian Christian dispensing the duties of
a person who wakes people up at ‘sehri’ (a pre-dawn meal eaten prior to
fasting) with a little drum in his hand. What could be more beautiful! A Christian waking up a Muslim to help him,
fulfil his religious duties. Wonders, wonders! The respect for each other
comes from I think a common experience of living under the Israeli occupation,
since Palestinian Christians are as oppressed by the Israelis as the Muslims
are. Occupation does that at times, it binds together people sharing a common
experience with a thread of love and respect. People from both religions have
lived together in harmony for years now and have demonstrated their respect in
numerous ways. Hamas has cancelled strikes that coincided with Christian holidays,
Muslims have dressed up as Santa Claus on Christmas for Christian kids, Muslim
kids go to a Christian school; all these little incidents and demonstrations of
tolerance are hope inducing, of a better world lost somewhere in fast deteriorating human values.
Palestine
aside, there have been such wonderful gestures that cut across faiths and
religion in the past as well. Most of us do remember a powerful picture that
emerged during the Arab Spring in 2011, where Muslims were praying on the roads
during a protest demonstration and the Christians held hands, as they formed a
protective ring around them to save them from anti protest police. In a payback
moment, hundreds of Muslims formed a human chain around a church amid threats
of attack, to allow the Christians to attend a mass in 2013. This symbolic
protection has been repeated numerous times, in Pakistan, Nigeria and Egypt. It
is maybe that ultimate human emotion, of being one, being united because we are
humans that surpasses the hatred and fosters love, warmth and tolerance among
us. The world is full of such instances where humanity has taken precedence
over religion, faith and differences. If I started my blog on a dismal note I
end it on a positive note, knowing there have been many times in the past when
people have acted as humans merely, not bogged down by the baggage of being a
Muslim, Christian, black, white, European or Asian. If the world has seen
Muslims and Christians kill each other, it has seen them protect each other as
well, if it has seen a white shooting a black, it has seen white people standing
up for the black people as well. If the world has seen hatred and bloodshed, it
has seen love and selflessness as well. If only we could create more of such
beautiful moments, the history would have brighter pages than darker ones. If
only, for a moment we could think of each other as brothers/sisters in humanity
the generations to come would talk of us with love and respect. Peace!
