Harvest of cruelty

THE world at present is witnessing a tragic wave of death and destruction.

We are seeing whole habitats destroyed by bombings, resurfacing of long-standing issues over territory, deadlock between governments, and violence begetting more violence everywhere.

These episodes have pained all of us. We wonder what has the world come to, and where we are headed from here.

How did such hatred and brutality enter human minds, and how much more suffering is yet to come? Are the elements of kindness and mercy completely wiped out from the face of the earth?

But violence is not new to us, and history is witness to it. In fact what we are seeing today is the fruit of something we planted long ago. Over the years, we have initiated acts of cruelty, normalised them and raised the bar bit by bit.

It is the duty of the powerful to protect others, and it is immorality of the highest degree to exploit, intimidate and destroy them.

The biggest test of character is how we treat those who are weaker than us, and as a human race we have failed miserably.

As long as such subjugation and destruction are part of our daily lives, we cannot expect peace to shine on us.

As George Bernard Shaw said: “While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect ideal conditions on this earth?”

But this is not the dead end. We still stand a chance to sow something new today – that which we wish to harvest tomorrow.

Now is the right time to plant a new sapling, for the law of nature favours the positive change we want to see.

As night is followed by day, and winter finally gives way to spring, these dark phases of humanity will naturally be followed by a new dawn – a world order based on kindness and nonviolence.