31st August 2010
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We need to have a critical list of things which are very important for us for which we should become sensitive. We need to ask the following questions:
· Does our health matter?
· Does the environmental pollution matter?
· Does the political corruption matter?
· The decline in the youth values- does it matter?
· The declining sense of honesty- does it matter?
If the answer to the above question is `yes', the critical question is `what are we doing about it?'. Do we at least talk about it? Do we express our views on some of these important issues of the society?
More often than not, we close our eyes and ignore. We don't even want to talk about it. We take the line of least resistance, since such an approach suits us. If we raise our voice, we have to do something. So we choose to keep quite. Or, the maximum we go is to criticize, complain and blame someone.
I read somewhere that the mankind is suffering not because of a few hundred people without conscience, but because of the silence of millions of people. Mahatma Gandhi did not remain silent when he saw racial discrimination in South Africa. He had all the reason to keep himself off the British injustice in India when he arrived after his barrister education. But he decided to speak and write about it. So did Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Ralph Nader etc who expressed their voice vociferously.
Over this weekend, jot down one thing which shocks your conscience and decide what you are going to do!
N C Sridharan
000
Posts
