Dialogue or dagger
MINI KRISHNAN
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Where are the peacemakers?
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“....stake everything on a formidable gamble that words are more powerful than munitions.”
Albert Camus, 1949
The past couple of years have seen so many bitter verbal explosions in public that for the sake of our pluralistic society there is an urgent need to reinstate methods of dialogue, communication, and patient listening to the other. The “I’ve had enough, let’s teach them a lesson” approach will only take us closer to the brink from which we will never be able to retreat.
If all of creation has a common origin, where exactly does this mountain of misunderstanding lie? It lies within ourselves. If we could only teach our children that the stability of our neighbourhoods, schools and indeed of the entire world hinges on our ability to discuss our feelings rather than give vent to them violently, we might yet ensure a safe world for our children and our children’s children.
Show them
The only way of doing this is to show our children how it is done. The rising violence in youngsters both against others and self-inflicted is a definite pointer that our generation has not hesitated to turn to the gun or knife instead of to conflict-resolving methods.
If we look upon people who do not share our culture or faith as utterly alien to ourselves just because they were not born into families exactly like our own, we do ourselves a great disfavour, as our own survival — physical, economic and moral — depends on the survival of all. One cannot prosper for long by wiping out someone else. Destroy another and you destroy yourself too.
An African folktale tells of a sprig of leaves growing on a shrub. One day one of the four leaves decided to cut off water and nutrients to the others. So those leaves began to die.
But before the greedy leaf could rejoice, it too felt itself weakening. When the other leaves began to wither, the flow of life into the bully-leaf also slowed. Before long, a whole portion of a once-healthy plant life fell to the ground. If this can happen to leaves, what about people and the pain they offer each other and to which they succumb when it floods back to them?
Temporary win
Every parent who has ever struck a child knows the hollow feeling it brings even though it buys some sort of obedience or submission for a while. The truth about dealing forcefully with others — strangers and adults — is no different. We may think we have won but it is only a temporary situation. The way of force, of exercising a sort of morbid power and control over the other are all dusty roads to death. It only heightens insecurity; insecurity breeds fear; and fear leads on to panic and loss of control.
While our times clearly lack great moral leadership, the heroism and endurance of the average Indian, despite his limitations, is probably our only hope for the future. His simple forms of communication with neighbours and personal circles might yet save our country.
Way forward
The way forward may not be easy. When differences drive people apart, when temperatures rise, it is easy to believe that a rapid solution lies at the end of a dagger and not a dialogue. Yet, we must think otherwise. There is a way out paved with negotiation, understanding and the strength that comes from a determination to achieve peace in our times.
Don’t look around for peacemakers. They are within us.
E-mail: minik@satyam.net.in
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