GUNS AND ROSES

I ended the year 2009 at IMAX dome theatre, watching "AVATAR" with my wife. And what a way to end an year!

James Cameron must be a great dreamer - a great child dreamer. The movie is sur-real, unbelievably grand, huge and beautiful. Watching on a gigantic screen at IMAX made it even more magical. I still see it in my mind, still dream about it.

"Everything in this world is created twice," it is said, "First, in our minds, and then in the outside world." Every movie, every book, every work of art or architecture, every enterprise or empire... even war, even peace. 'AVATAR', I am told, lived in Cameron's mind for more than fifteen years. When it came into the world, it came so brilliantly. Shah Jahan dreamt of the Taj Mahal, Colombus dreamt of India, the New World...

Yes, every creation begins with a dream, in our minds, in our hearts. It has been always that way... right from the Genesis. God dreamt of this universe, this world... and it came to be manifested. Hitler dreamt of a world of 'Superior race'...and, we all know how he went about it! Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt of Freedom to the Negroes... and, we know how he went about achieving his ideal, his dream. Gandhi did the same, Jinnah did the same. Every creation is our own. We create our own world, our own universe.

Today, TOI has done something commendable: 'LOVE PAKISTAN' campaign. The front page is white, and the doves carry the message. If you want peace, be the first one to say 'Hi', be the first one to shake hands. That's why in the message it says, even if we think that we have been badly hurt and betrayed, even if we think that it is 'they' who should say 'sorry' first - if peace is what we want, there is no other way but to stretch our hand and say "Hi".

Naive?

It is. It should be. Because, only children can come around and be friends, all over again, and again and again. Only children can forget and forgive so fast, and so often. We should become - all of us - little children all over again. We should learn to dream all over again. We should let go the heaviness, the weight of enmity, old grudges. Life is too short. One more year has rolled by... one more year of bitterness and hate.

Today, as we all so mechanically wish each other 'Happy New Year' - let's for a while pause and ask: "Do we really mean what we say?" Let's ask: "Do we really want peace and happiness in and around us?"

I really do not know what is there in store for us in 2010. But, I know I can always be the first one to say 'Hi'... I can be always be the first one to shake hand. Such acts stem from clean, noble intentions. Peace comes from there... when we do not calculate a lot, when we do not bother about too many conditions. We just say 'Hi', and we say it straight from our hearts.

Love is the greatest weapon ever developed on this planet, by any one. Peace will never - and can not - come from mighty guns. It comes from a genuine 'Hi', a sincere handshake. Yes, it is just a hug away!

I hope to see our world in 2010 in a new 'AVATAR'. I pledge my hand, my heart, my hug to translate this dream.

Love and best wishes,


GERALD D'CUNHA

Comments

Girish Dhameja said…
1. Dreams are something which occurs when we sleep and once it occurs it doesn’t allow us to sleep. Dreams provides vision to our life we work to attain them. But Do you think all dreams are achievable????

2. As rightly said by you in this article -
“Only children can forget and forgive so fast, and so often. We should become - all of us - little children all over again. We should learn to dream all over again.”
And I can rightly say “Child is father of Man”

3. I do agree a simply Hi creates a long and healthy relation. We go to school or college and we starting conversing to our colleagues with the word “Hi” and we endup making bond which is greater then blood relation and that is FREINDSHIP.
Gerald D'Cunha said…
Thanks Girish. The comment was rich in content.

I think, we should be concerned with the question: Should we drop our child-like innocence, our golden hearts? and, not with the question: Are all dreams achievable?

Let's dream; let's be innocent... Let's be genuine.

LOVE,

GERRY

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