Of Lilliputians and the brain dead

Still remember the story as told by Jonathan Swift….Gulliver’s travels…part of my school curriculum in class 4…. or was it 5……And I remember it not because I found it inspirational, hugely entertaining, or a tremendous work of satirical writing……the brain of a nine year old is not mature enough to comprehend any of these. But I remember it because my nine year old brain had perceived it to be utterly atrocious…..how can someone be so shockingly ignorant as to kill for as inane an issue as which side would you break your egg from and indeed give rise to civil strife and social unrest on this issue?? Little did I realise that not only is this atrocious behaviour perfectly feasible but I actually live in a society that may have been picked out of Gulliver’s travels…..that people actually kill for a lot less, that the divides actually are founded on a far more flimsy ground than how to shell an egg…..As a teenager I learnt to be suspicious of one religious group, to distance myself from a particular community, not because we ever had such a discussion at home but because as soon as I stepped out of home I looked into the eyes of diffidence, distrust and difference. The media would be rife with talk of religious riots breaking out in one place or members of one caste stoning to death someone from another caste. And it didn’t matter that I still did not understand how any issue, or difference of opinion, or a difference in lifestyle could ever overtake the sanctity of life………My impressionable brain had to learn to quickly adjust to the information being fed in. This was almost always viewpoints of someone on television talking too loudly or in the newspapers, pouring vitriolic about how one particular section of society had been victimised…..I still meant to ask – what about the other side?….are they as bitter and angry about their loss as you are about yours’? Are they grieving for the dead too? Are they homeless and abandoned too?But obviously the world is governed by men who do not think these questions are Important. Whats important at that time is to flame the fires of religious hatred, and work people’s emotions to your advantage…..has happened for centuries..still continues to happen and will keep happening until we can stand up and say we’ve had enough. Naïve, simple minded men have always been a pawn in the game for power hungry, greedy politicians who cant be bothered about the consequences of their dangerous actions.Once any two groups of people start to fight, to kill and maime men, women and children from the opposite side there is often no going back. We’ve seen generations of people trapped in the quagmire of hatred and bitterness….often, the initial reason for the strife completely forgotten. Because hatred begets hatred………it’s a vicious cycle…..Ive always believed there are only two kinds of people in this world- good and bad. There are good people amongst the muslims, good people amongst the jews, the christians, the hindus, the whites, the blacks, the ‘browns’, the rich and the poor. The rest are all artificial divides…..nothing that cannot be surmounted with effort and will. My best friend will be someone I can share thoughts and experiences with, have a rapport with, share common ground with. He/ she doesn’t have to go to the same place of worship as me, eat the same kind of food or even speak the same language that I do.Based on the premise that all men (and women!) have the same origin…..be it adam and eve or be it Manu……..is it not beyond ridiculous that we’ve taken to killing each other over petty differences. And I’m not being blasé in calling these differences petty….If you look at the history of mankind, all war has been perpetrated to gain dominance over that other man that does not look like you, does not dress like you and prays to a different god.A bit like, you don’t shell your egg like me,………….so I must kill you, isn’t it?
So there are 6 inch men that fight over trivia and then there are the ones amongst us with wood between our ears who've resisted the voice of reason for so long, its now second nature.