THE SCHOOL OF PESHAWAR






Pic.: Madhusudan D. Jeurkar

Like it did to the rest of the world, the terror attack on the innocent school-children in Peshawar, yesterday, left me numb! Every possible reactive thought passed through my mind – fear, sadness, dismay, anger, compassion… yes, I passed through the whole gambit of feelings…

The irony is all this happens in the name of God and religion... They don’t even spare the innocent children!

The movie Titanic came to my mind... When it was sinking, the highest of luxury, power and position… all these meant nothing. Only thing that mattered was: ‘how to survive! What would not go off from my imagination is that the band playing the famous hymn – ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’… The band played it till the very end…

Yes, till the very end, a reminder to us:

“Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me;
Still all my song would be nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!”


Every act of madness is an act performed in darkness… You and I cannot do anything to stop such heinous acts. But, invariably, when our anger ends, we experience compassion…

How else can we explain it?

We all are God’s little children… Aren't we? Yes, of the same God, in whose name the cruelty is being carried out… To Him, we all – including the terrorists - are children!

So, all that I could do, last night, was to remind myself of my own darkness, my own acts of arrogance and darkness… The terror was just a symbol, a reminder… The Titanic was just a symbol, a reminder… The imagery of slain school-children, too, was just a symbol, a reminder…

That, Life is too short to be wasted in arrogance, hatred and wars… That, there is, certainly, something to take home from the school of Peshawar!




GERALD D’CUNHA

 Video: YouTube

Comments

Prashant Nair said…
Very inhuman act of all! The post is calming-----------------Prashant
December 18, 2014 at 2:18 PM
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