I too agree that
racism, unfortunately, has been confirmed as a learned behaviour and it starts at a very young age.
We all have
been following traditional & cultural lines of misguided or the not so favourable practices of faith or many sorts that our fore parents did for the
same motives.
There will be
times when we shouldn’t compromise our core values, our integrity, and we should
have the moral responsibility to speak up in the face of injustice.
Talking about
moral responsibility, Waleed is a man who really understands and able to put
himself in others shoes with no hesitation, because he’s been, you name it,
through it all and has the tenacity, resilience and determination to speak up about
any confronting situations to educate and change any harsh conditions in our
society.
Waleed has given
a thorough assessment of the naming, shaming and prejudices of labelling
different racial and religious groups causing tragic incidents, similar to the
Christchurch Mosque massacre, later changed to “Christchurch Terror Attack” in
the media, in New Zealand, by prominent figures and society in general.
Waleed, like other
believers a devout Muslim, said, struggling with emotions, “I’m gutted, I’m
scared, and I’m overcome with utter hopelessness.”
Waleed Aly's powerful reaction to Christchurch Mosque attack
This disgruntled
racist and white supremacist killer wasn’t called a terrorist. Mind you, the
media calls him with all sorts of different names as described, but terrorist.
Think about that! Don’t misinterpret my views that I’m in no way sympathizing
with anyone who commits crime and let alone destroy human lives as our human
birth is very rare and precious and a conceit to be finished in such a
vindictive way.
Today, it’s not enough to create change at the level
of symptoms and structures. We need to work together even more deeply to change
the underlying paradigms of thought and to connect with our deeper sources of
creativity and self.
The process of unifying people is difficult and the
road to agreement is often littered with the debris of historical grievances,
animosity and resentment.
However, any failure can be turned into an
opportunity to learn and grow. I say it can, because it requires a particular
attitude to benefit from our failure. Without that mentality, all our failures
will go to waste. This is true in political affairs as it is in personal life
for a leader as well as a follower. So what is that mentality?
It is a mentality that is willing and able to
reflect on past experiences, past actions and their outcomes. It is only
through such reflections that one learns one’s strengths, weaknesses and the
environment and conditions in which actions were undertaken and what could have
been done differently that could have resulted in a positive outcome. It is not
enough to admit collective failure. One needs to evaluate one’s role in the
failure.
A United Kingdom
Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, said, the Palestine Royal Commission in
1937, the following remarks: “I do not
agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he
may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not
admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of
America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been
done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a
more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.”
These days in
age, we don’t need guns and weapons of mass destruction to change course of
history, by sharing practical concepts as an interconnected society, we can
write and re-write anything until we get it right, peacefully.Nevertheless, this is a wakeup call for all humanity and government officials to take heed and reaffirm the responsibility for their own actions or face this ongoing inevitable fate again & again for generations to come. I’m not violent or inciting violence, but commenting my own assessment as I’ve lived through this and all sorts of incidents, war and cruelty and demanding for change.
A Philosophical Poet, John Donne, wrote, “No man is
an island.” an expression emphasizing a person's connections to his environs. But
we failed to follow that expression. Similarly, another South African
philosophy of UBUNTU which roughly
translates to human kindness towards others is the belief in a universal bond
of sharing with all humanity replaces the simple greeting of ‘How are you?’
with the more sentimental response ‘I’m well if you are well.’
Simple greetings and sorry expressions shouldn’t be
a very hard act to follow. I have tried my best to break that cycle whenever
I’m confronted with one. If I sound harsh and uncompromising in my deliberations,
it is a reflection of the level of my frustration, and I kindly ask readers to
take it as an honest expression of an emotional plea to the likes of our beer
culling culture & our country’s highly educated elites to be honest, to
show their respect and to give their best.
We’ve the choice
to live together in harmony or continue to live in a world of hate and
inequality.
Let’s anticipate
eliminating shared problems that have entrenched us for so long by redefining the
way we perceive its symbolic grounds without blaming others. If we do so by
using all of our senses, we may empathize rather than trivialize.As always, good piece of work, Waleed.
Condolences to
all the people who have lost their loved ones
HONGI TO YOU NZ!KIA KAHA!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment