Yet another day, yet another news channel reporting a terrorist attack. Yet another group of innocent souls being offered to a supposed deity under the name of religion and chastity.
It has become so common a news that it’s not 'breaking news’ anymore. Neither does it break you. Murder, rape and crime has become so synonymous with the human race that it doesn’t move you anymore. It doesn’t concern you. So you offer condolences, say a silent prayer and switch the channel. Until next time.
The internet is now flooded with a ton of open letters to Pakistan and the terrorists that caused the mayhem. I don’t address terrorists or the government or the citizens of Pakistan or any other country in particular. My address, is to you. You as an individual, a mother, a daughter, a son, a husband, wife, teacher, CEO, maid, driver… human? Is it still valid for us to use this term to define ourselves? Is this really how God intended us to be?
Today, it was the merciless slaughter of the kids in Pakistan. Last year it was a young girl being brutally raped in India. A few years ago it was a terrorist attack in America. God knows when the next attacks will be and where. But one thing’s for certain, they will happen. Lets face the raw, relentless truth than indulging in a blissful state of ignorance. There’s going to be another great chunk of people being bumped off the earth for no reason or rhyme, there’s going to be immeasurable crime against women because, well, they’re women. There’s going to be acts of inhumanity that’ll shake you worse than the last, every single time.
My heart went out to the mothers in Pakistan who had to face the lifeless corpses of their children. But this isn’t the Indian in me taking a stand, today, I speak, not as an individual or an Indian or a woman or an adult. This is a human praying for the souls of hundreds of those who are now just that. Souls.
We detached ourselves from humanity the minute we decided that it was okay to call the shots in someone else’s destiny.
We live in an era where ‘Being Human’ is merely a statement that you pay oodles of cash to flaunt across your chest. It’s nothing more than a brand. A tag. A money minting machine.
As an Indian, I’m appalled.
As a woman, I’m scared for my dignity and life.
As a daughter, a sister and friend, I’m afraid.
But as a human?
As a human, I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed of being human in a human race where humanity is a lost cause.
