Terrorism was born in man's heart quite a long time ago, and today it is evident on every street. A rickshaw will unabashedly brush past you, the man on the motorbike won't let you cross, the man lying on the road won't attract the slightest attention, a building secretary will be murdered by another committee member because he wanted to be the secretary, a jilted lover will not even blink before killing his ex-girlfriend at point blank. Aren't our mornings spent on brooding over such ghastly information in the newspapers day in and day out? This is terrorism, of an unripe kind, the kind that will ripen in time to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people in broad daylight.
Terrorism is no longer a state subject, or a political matter. It is a human subject, brought about by the moral and ethical downfall of man. These young men who we call terrorists were innocent once. But what they saw around them as they grew up made them jump into the war front. Don't blame either the politicians, or police, or terrorists. Look into your heart and see whether it beats for the tiny daily terrorisms, or does it beat with compassion?
This inhuman and brutal social system where a few enjoy five-star luxuries and the rest count pennies has been around for too long to change it from its roots. But when you sit, lie and sleep on absolute injustice and corruption for centuries, this is what you deserve. When you consider yourself too busy to think of the society you live in, where everyone is busy chasing success and money, you sure need a bomb or two to wake you up from your long slumber. Five-star Mumbai has been snoring for too long.
Terrorism is a reality in every street, every building, every society, every nook and corner of the road. And these roads lead ultimately to aggression like the violence we saw in Mumbai. All of us are guilty of breeding aggression and violence, at home, in the workplace, on the roads and all this violence is the stuff terrorism is made of. It is not about RDX and grenades; it is rather about the insults, abuses and hatred in our heart for the other person. We are terrorists in embryos waiting to bad mouth or blow up our neighbours or our boss.
Ultimately a terrorist attack should lead us to ask questions about life, and its purpose, about why we are here, what are our goals on this extraordinarily beautiful planet. We have forgotten to ask questions and we don't ponder about life and its meaning. It is high time we start the journey of discovery, which may free us from all hatred.
–Arun Babani |
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