The statement by a simple, good man who is a friend of mine, caught me by surprise, “All the problems in West Bengal is because of a particular community!”
In my writing class I tell my students something that surprises many of them. Before learning grammar, style, structure, or vocabulary, they need to first empty themselves. Empty their minds of the baggage they carry.
The baggage of unforgiveness, hate, bitterness, jealousy, and anger. Because no person can write beautifully while carrying garbage inside. And I have realised the same truth applies not just to writers, but to nations too.
Today we are a country walking around with overloaded emotional suitcases. We are carrying stories told to us by angry uncles, frightened grandparents, shouting television channels, manipulative politicians, and poisonous social media forwards. We are told whom to fear, whom to hate, whom not to trust. We are handed suspicion as though it were patriotism.
And slowly the baggage becomes our identity.
A man who has never dealt with someone from another community hates him already. A young woman who has never spoken to somebody from another religion fears them deeply. Young boys are taught anger before they are taught understanding. We are no longer raising citizens.
We are raising emotional soldiers carrying invisible weapons.
And then we wonder why the country feels tense.
Political leaders must understand something dangerous. Once you burden people with hatred, you cannot control where that hatred goes. Once anger is released into society, it does not politely remain inside election rallies. It spills onto roads, into homes, schools, offices, and public spaces.
That is exactly what we are seeing today.
Road rage has become frightening. One small scratch on a car and men jump out ready to kill. Public bullying has become entertainment. Women harassment is increasing with terrifying boldness. Ordinary disagreements suddenly turn violent. Everybody seems permanently angry. Permanently offended. Permanently ready for battle.
And when leaders constantly feed followers with stories of enemies everywhere, those followers eventually begin acting like foot soldiers at war.
Even the language of democracy has changed. Today we hear leaders casually speaking about bulldozers and police encounters as though instant punishment without trial is something to celebrate. In a democracy this should terrify us. Because the moment a nation starts enjoying shortcuts to justice, it slowly stops respecting justice itself.
A nation cannot move forward carrying emotional garbage on its back.
The same way I ask my students to empty themselves before they write, I believe we as citizens must empty ourselves before we build this country. Empty the lies. Empty the suspicion. Empty the inherited hatred. Empty the anger handed down to us by politics, propaganda and parents.
And leaders too must stop loading citizens with baggage for votes.
Because hatred may win elections. But only peace builds nations. So, empty this inherited baggage of anger and hate…!
____________________________
HERE’S MORE THE AUTHOR CAN OFFER YOU…. JUST CLICK HERE..
————————————————
Would love to hear from you in the COMMENTS section below…and IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE BOB’S BANTER EVERYDAY, PLEASE SEND YOUR NAME AND WHATSAPP PHONE NO TO [email protected]
————————————————–
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Excellent advice. Two famous men have quoted one says “Give me a child till he is seven and I’ll show you a man” – Aristotle who speaks on the positive effects and “Give a child till he is five and he is mine forever” Lenin who speaks on control and brain washing, both were wrong because brain washing can happen at any age. We see even today how easy it is to control the weak mind, the head that has nothing there to resist. No reading, no well formed thinking. Full of movies, TV serials, propaganda, WhatsApp forwards. So emptying the mind is vital.
So many problems every where. Its due to lack of discipline. In Schools,Colleges, Universities,Religious and Social Gathering these should be discussed with solutions. Some times we suffer due to problems created by irresponsible persons. It makes life very stressful.
What an amazingly beautiful column! Thanks Bobby.
Packed with simple yet hard hitting truths. May it lead each and every person reading it to delve deep into themselves to get rid of handed down biases and one time experiences of others that have intentionally or unintentionally influenced their thinking and behaviour.
U nailed it Bob. How a wish we could turn back the clock, when prejudices were not foisted on us. Yet I understand now that those prejudices were always part of our psyche, it only required a manipulator to pull them out and control us.