What if we acted as less ‘Indian’…
What if, we for once, as a country, as a people, did not say 'You deserve it' when a woman complained of being molested. What if we treated her as human and empathized with her pain, being more sensitive towards her feelings, imagining the same happening to us!
What if we did not ask 'What about Kashmiri Pundits' when a Muslim suffered in a riot and asked for justice! What if we didn't reduce the problems faced by either to a revenge tactic and focused separately on the pain felt by both! What if we felt compassion because they are human, because they suffered and lost everything, what if we imagined ourselves in their place!
What if we did not say 'Development needs sacrifice' when a poor tribal complained of being robbed of his home, his land and his livelihood. What if we treated him as human, felt his pain, felt what he must have gone through and tried to support him!
What if we did not say 'Look at your own culture' when an American tourist complained of being stared at, fleeced and touched inappropriately. What if we felt sorry, what if we acknowledged our behaviour and tried being better! What if the same had happened to us!
What if we, for once, accepted a mistake. What if we stopped justifying a wrong with another, what if we stopped deflecting blame! What if we introspected, would that make us lesser humans or better humans! What if we said sorry! What if we tried to be better human beings going forward. What if we accepted the problem! Even if they started it, what if we forgive their mistakes and made a fresh start! Would not doing so be a game either of us could ever win! What if we didn't bite and actually spoke to each other, at a human level, to try and understand one another, to listen and to be heard, to share our pain, to share our joy, to help when need be, to discuss what hurt us, to make amends when we do the same! What if we filtered our actions and beliefs through the filters of compassion and mutual growth. What if we stopped comparing ourselves to a failed state like Pakistan and taking pride in how we are better, what if our merit was absolute and not relative, what if we held ourselves to a higher standard, what if we strived for perfection as a Society!
What if...