The friend called frantically. Treeng treeng, rang our house landline phone. The year was 2001. I had just entered my teens. "Switch on the TV! Switch on your TV and see what is happening", he sounded panicky. I switched on the videocon television set of the yesteryears, the ones with a big back. I just froze at what I was seeing with my eyes!
Two huge buildings had just come crashing down. Few rabid terrorists had just rammed their flights into the twin towers. Shortly after that news came that another building is also hit and then the pentagon itself got hit. Life as I knew it was never the same again, for I realized that day what hatred was.
I clearly remember lying down in my bed that night not able to sleep. Questions jammed my young mind. Many of which I could not fathom. The next day in school, everybody had their own version of answers! A new generation was trying to comprehend hatred that day.
Then 2008 happened! Most of us had just finished college. A few had managed a job! 24*7 live televisions with hollow news channels and petty debate shows were becoming the fad! November 26th, 2008 was when our generation saw hatred first hand! For four days I stayed glued to the TV, thinking whatever has happened to mankind. "How did hatred percolate so much into the human veins", now a little more mature young adult brain of mine was trying to comprehend.
For a person and to a large extent a generation that had only thought about hatred as exported from outside, the last few years of social media has shown that actually hatred is deep within every human's heart. We innately hate! We hate each other on the basis of religion, caste, political affiliation and everything else. We hate, coz we can hate!
The epitome of hatred in the last three decades of this country was when we let hooligans raze down a building in the name of religion! For all the complications Ayodhya's history is, hatred is its fulcrum. Hatred towards people of another religion.
Can man ever overcome hatred? Will the experiment of having an Indian state with many different nations put together as one ever be bereft of hatred? Can mankind ever live without hating another man for living a life different from his own? The questions that thronged the teenage mind of 2001 and the young adult mind in 2008 still beg for answers!
Today could well be the day where we can overcome hate! By showing grace. GRACE?
Grace is showing love to the underserved. Intentionally showing kindness to those who have hated us. Going out of the way to understand those who have rebuked us and ours. Grace put simply is 'loving the undeserved'! For none of us deserve love, with our hate-filled hearts.
Grace could well be the answer! As the world expects the Ayodhya verdict with bated breath, Can we show some grace to the world that hates? For grace and only grace can overcome hatred!
Two huge buildings had just come crashing down. Few rabid terrorists had just rammed their flights into the twin towers. Shortly after that news came that another building is also hit and then the pentagon itself got hit. Life as I knew it was never the same again, for I realized that day what hatred was.
I clearly remember lying down in my bed that night not able to sleep. Questions jammed my young mind. Many of which I could not fathom. The next day in school, everybody had their own version of answers! A new generation was trying to comprehend hatred that day.
Then 2008 happened! Most of us had just finished college. A few had managed a job! 24*7 live televisions with hollow news channels and petty debate shows were becoming the fad! November 26th, 2008 was when our generation saw hatred first hand! For four days I stayed glued to the TV, thinking whatever has happened to mankind. "How did hatred percolate so much into the human veins", now a little more mature young adult brain of mine was trying to comprehend.
For a person and to a large extent a generation that had only thought about hatred as exported from outside, the last few years of social media has shown that actually hatred is deep within every human's heart. We innately hate! We hate each other on the basis of religion, caste, political affiliation and everything else. We hate, coz we can hate!
The epitome of hatred in the last three decades of this country was when we let hooligans raze down a building in the name of religion! For all the complications Ayodhya's history is, hatred is its fulcrum. Hatred towards people of another religion.
Can man ever overcome hatred? Will the experiment of having an Indian state with many different nations put together as one ever be bereft of hatred? Can mankind ever live without hating another man for living a life different from his own? The questions that thronged the teenage mind of 2001 and the young adult mind in 2008 still beg for answers!
Today could well be the day where we can overcome hate! By showing grace. GRACE?
Grace is showing love to the underserved. Intentionally showing kindness to those who have hated us. Going out of the way to understand those who have rebuked us and ours. Grace put simply is 'loving the undeserved'! For none of us deserve love, with our hate-filled hearts.
Grace could well be the answer! As the world expects the Ayodhya verdict with bated breath, Can we show some grace to the world that hates? For grace and only grace can overcome hatred!
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