The twittersphere and much of facebook is so dominated by gangrape posts, it frightens me. Is there really so much bile, anger, resentment, frustration, self importance and delusion in people I actually know?
What happened to "let he who hasn't sinned, cast the first stone"?
Or to "change yourself before trying to change others"?
Or to those three fingers that point squarely back at you?
What happened to forgiveness? Is it too hard, or just not the fashionable thing to do any more?
When I tweeted, with mild trepidation, that perpetrators are victims too, I got some noisy disagreements. Is knowledge of basic criminology so low, or is it just convenient to ignore it when the popular shout is "Crucify him, crucify him"?
On Christmas eve, I would like to humbly offer this opinion - that violence of any kind, to any individual or species, is abhorrent. The rape of a soul, or spirit, or heart, or mind, takes longer to heal, and causes more far reaching and insidiously hideous effects than the rape of the body - but makes no media news, because it is invisible.
And who among us has not committed that crime, has not bent another's will to suit our own, has not contributed to mass murder by distance?
Ahimsa, non violence, is perhaps the only answer to our times. Buddha preached it. Mahatma Gandhi practised it. Christ both preached and practised it.
Tragic that we the people of India, who once used it to overthrow a super empire, now ape the West with candlelight protests and two minutes of media fame. Sound and fury signifying nothing.
Non-violence is not easy. It requires soul searching, quietitude, genuine compassion for all beings good or evil, followed by enlightened means to rectify and save. It's the only slow but sure way to a better society.
Sharing once again my Christmas blogpost after the 26/11 attacks. It saddens me that it continues to be relevant four years later. But then, that is the wonder of life.
http://lynnisms.blogspot.in/2008/12/while-preparing-to-compose-christmas.html
What happened to "let he who hasn't sinned, cast the first stone"?
Or to "change yourself before trying to change others"?
Or to those three fingers that point squarely back at you?
What happened to forgiveness? Is it too hard, or just not the fashionable thing to do any more?
When I tweeted, with mild trepidation, that perpetrators are victims too, I got some noisy disagreements. Is knowledge of basic criminology so low, or is it just convenient to ignore it when the popular shout is "Crucify him, crucify him"?
On Christmas eve, I would like to humbly offer this opinion - that violence of any kind, to any individual or species, is abhorrent. The rape of a soul, or spirit, or heart, or mind, takes longer to heal, and causes more far reaching and insidiously hideous effects than the rape of the body - but makes no media news, because it is invisible.
And who among us has not committed that crime, has not bent another's will to suit our own, has not contributed to mass murder by distance?
Ahimsa, non violence, is perhaps the only answer to our times. Buddha preached it. Mahatma Gandhi practised it. Christ both preached and practised it.
Tragic that we the people of India, who once used it to overthrow a super empire, now ape the West with candlelight protests and two minutes of media fame. Sound and fury signifying nothing.
Non-violence is not easy. It requires soul searching, quietitude, genuine compassion for all beings good or evil, followed by enlightened means to rectify and save. It's the only slow but sure way to a better society.
Sharing once again my Christmas blogpost after the 26/11 attacks. It saddens me that it continues to be relevant four years later. But then, that is the wonder of life.
http://lynnisms.blogspot.in/2008/12/while-preparing-to-compose-christmas.html
