It’s never too late………..

How many times must a man look up?
Before he can see the sky
How many ears must one man have?
Before he can hear people cry
How many deaths does it take till he knows?
That too many people have died

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind,
The answer is blowing in the wind!

It’s never too late to have a good beginning. However, the belated right action can’t justify our ignorance and indifferent attitude. I am writing this in the context of the biggest news of the year for me – Two class VIII students reportedly shot dead their classmate, in Gurgaon (which is almost synonymous with “most developed place ”). This event is at least termed as sad, unfortunate and many even say it is shocking. Thankfully this incident has forced people to react if not respond. It ‘s not new and surprising that only happenings in and around the capital get the right coverage. It will be a great achievement if this incident teaches us lesson for life. That may be the biggest tribute to Abhishek, who lost his life in this tragic incident. It is said that a good learner is “one who not only learns from his own mistakes but also learns from others mistakes”. Let’s try to be good learners at least.

Some excerpts from the Letters to the editor, The Hindu, Friday 14th Dec’07

Who to blame?
“ Teenage gun culture of the West is taking deep root in the minds of our young. The Parents of the accused who laid his hands on the gun are squarely to blame for Abhishek’s death.” Neeli Kanth, Secunderabad

“ The school authorities could not have anticipated the crime which was well planned by the assailants to take revenge on the victim who was allegedly bullying them.” K.V.Ravindran, Payyanur

“It is the family ambience that is to be blamed for this… They develop a tendency to view everything in terms of money. “ V.A. Jayaprakash, Kottayam

“Gun licences should be restricted and the licensees held responsible for their misuse.” N.Ramachandran, Durgapur

When we talk about getting inspired by another culture that culture comes to us with it’s own baggage. It’s we, who have to analyze what’s to pick up and what’s to drop. We cannot leave it to the kids. If we are promoting the kind of development, which is taking place around Gurgaon, we better anticipate this kind of crime. There are hundreds of such cases taking place in USA, Canada and other developed countries but the problem with us is we always live in DENIAL. If families living in a developed city nearest to the country capital, having the highest per capita income feel insecure and think GUNs will enhance their security then my humble suggestion would be to deal with our insecurities first.

There is nothing wrong in earning money. The BIG questions are how you are earning it? And what you are doing with it? It’s sad that investing in people has no charm and where it is practiced is again not out of any genuineness. We are investing in property, in financial market, which are so fragile spaces but not investing in people where with zero risk factors we are assured of lifetime returns (Can breath our last with the feeling that we have tried to do our duty).

The School is no more an educational institution. The schools are the corporate houses without CSR policy. They know how to market themselves, how to build their own brands, how to earn profit. They fool us by connecting infrastructure with education. We the middle class get carried away by the name and size of the school “EURO International School”. Better be realistic in our expectations. Going to international school does not guarantee a liberal and progressive attitude. The money I spent for my child’s education can actually run 2 night schools (Schools run by SWRC, Tilonia in Rajasthan) for one year with 60 children. Are we educating a child or depriving education to thousands of kids? The amount of monetary transaction one witnesses in the public schools is very scary.

In a country like ours begging is illegal and roadside vendors who earn their living without taking any benefit from the Govt’s pro poor welfare schemes are jailed and fined for not having a license. But, we have the rich and the neo rich for whom getting a licensed gun is as easy as getting ring tones for our mobiles. The License Raj continues.

What to do then? Be the Change.

Our friend from Delhi writes – “present day children lack moral values. While there is a controversy over introducing sex education in the school curriculum, never have we paid attention to the inculcation of values such as love, trust, tolerance and forgiveness in young minds”.

My dear friend my question is – Do we think our schools have the credibility to preach these values? My strong believe is that value education cannot be imparted by schools for two reasons – firstly, Value education educators have to be facilitators and not teachers. Secondly, value education holds no meaning unless we practice what we preach.

I will tell you a story. Once a woman came to Bapu’s ashram with her little son and complained that the boy is consuming sugar despite the fact that he was suffering from “Sugar allergy”. She wanted Bapu to advise her son to stop eating sugar as she knew that nobody could disobey him. However, Bapu asked the woman to come after 15 days. And there was no second word. So she left. She came after 15 days when the mother and son arrived again, Bapu advised him to stop taking sugar and immediately the boy agreed. But the mother wondered why Bapu did not say this to her son on the first visit! She asked the same question to Bapu.

Bapu replied, “ I was also fond of jaggery. So how could I tell the boy to stop taking sugar unless I give up my weakness for the sweet thing? Therefore I took time to mend myself first.

How can we talk about love? Only thing one witnesses in the society, media and serials is hatred. Love is limited to Valentine’s Day. Why cannot it be celebrated 24x7?

How can we talk about tolerance when we have state sponsored violence all over the country?

How can we talk about Trust? When Govt’s are formed and collapsed because of numbers?

Forgiveness is no more in our dictionary. We are all for - tit for tat.

A. Ranganathan from Coimbatore writes“ Parents across the country must be anxious about the safety of their children in schools”. Why? Because, their kids are “good guys” and others are “bad guys”. Again the denial, again the insecurities, again the mistrust. Why can’t our society see all the kids equally and get interested in their wellbeing? Sounds idealistic. Unless and until we act as guides, mentors, and friends with all the children around us we can’t stop Nitharis and cases like this in our society. Ours kids are never going to be safe – neither at home nor at School.

The answer is blowing in the wind – If we start living the values we preach automatically others will follow.

Thanks
Rita