This review may disturb certain readers. Reader’s discretion is advised.
’’There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.’’
-- A.J. Muste.
Today morning when I got up and opened my internet connection, the first thing I came to know was the carnage at Akshardham temple in Gujarat. This again made me sit up and notice all that is going on in this world. Just when I wanted to finally declare that my land Ahmedabad is free from troubles, than does this happen. Hapless devotees are killed right in front of God, and terrorists take control of the temple. However later, they are also killed. So, probably they did go to heaven! I cannot tolerate this nonsense anymore. I want peace.
Peace? Yeah peace. But where can I find it. Where can I find peace in this world of sudden terror. Some psychopath’s mistake of mis-interpreation a certain religion now finds the world in a global mess. How I hope that the members of that religion realize that peace does not mean Jihad. Because of a handful of such people, the whole religion and its people find themselves condemned and treated with utter disrespect. If not for the world, can those people realize that they are indeed spoiling the image of their own religion? I hope they do, because invariably, more than 90 % of the terrorism was/is/will be/ created by them and them alone. To me, the members of that religion cannot just find peace within themselves. If they start at being at peace with themselves, probably, most of the places can be peaceful. This is the first step, and a very important step that they need to offer the world. Then and then only can there be peace in this world of sudden terror.
’’Peace is our gift to each other.’’
-- Elie Wiesel
Peace is a kind of oxymoron for us. For, we don’t want peace ourselves. If there were peace all over the world, who the hell would watch CNN or Star News? Naturally, certain amounts of dis-harmony is certainly required in the atmosphere. Why, even in the Vedas of our great religion it is written that until the world is in total chaos, and man starts killing his own brethren, then will God descend on earth to make peace. We know it allright! Even the Quran says it and even the Bible says. So what are we waiting for? For God to really come on earth and make peace?! That’s an acceptable idea, but forgive me, I don’t want to wait that long. There is no peace in America, there is no peace in Israel, there is no peace in Iraq, and there is no peace in India either! But think of it, if we start minding our own business instead of being a tom-boy and indulge in other people’s affairs wouldn’t it be peaceful for all of us? But no! we can’t do that…can we? Instead, if there is peace, we want to disturb it! So for this long, a city which never dreamt about terrorism, finds itself in midst of one. I wonder, how then can there be peace in this world of sudden terror.
“Peace, like charity, begins at home.”
-- Winston Churchill
If we want peace in this world, lets begin with ourselves first. First lets find whether we are at peace with ourselves in this world. Then lets think a step further. Unless, a human doesn’t find peace within himself, its impossible for him to live peacefully, and let others peacefully either. Its important, that each one of us makes an attempt to understand what peace is. To quote in Doc Childre and Howard Martin words “You can never get to peace and inner security without first acknowledging all of the good things in your life. If you’re forever wanting and longing for more without first appreciating things the way they are, you’ll stay in discord.” This is so true. To get to peace, you must find peace within yourself. I really hope that Bush, Musharraf, Bin laden, Vajpayee, Arafat, Saddam (yeah, all are in the same boat for me)M., find peace within themselves in one way or another. For they are the people who can bring some normalcy, if not complete peace to this hackneyed world right now.
We don’t need another round of Stalins, Napoleans, Hitlers in this world. We do need another Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa.
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa.
Peace on earth.