In all horrific situations like the current situation of the gang rape and murder of little Asifa, we need to reflect on what a person like Gautama the Buddha, Christ, Socrates or Gandhi, all famous figures of history, universally respected for the excellence of their character and model way of life would have done. Would he have e would behaved as our present-day leaders do and been an active participant or a passive onlooker of the suicidal race for more and more destructive nuclear engines run day and night before our eyes?
The answer is an emphatic ‘no’. Such a personality would never be a party to or an idle spectator of the horrid game. On the contrary, he would raise heaven and earth to rid mankind of this hideous nightmare and even stake his life to achieve this aim.
This may sound unrealistic but the fact is we all are indeed connected and to raise the consciousness of humanity, we have to not just protect and yes, punish the criminals but work on raising the conditions we find ourselves in.
What I am saying is not entirely new. For humanity to change, we need to focus and raise our own way of being so that slowly but steadily, there is true empathy towards all which is the only thing that can create a better world, again slowly but steadily.
It does not matter what the child’s religion, so called status or state was. What matters is that she was a child. This is what must call out to each of us. Again, not for politics or for playing blame games but for seeking to treat each child as one of us. In other words, let us seek to remove all labels from the people we come across and treat them as one of us. The day this begins to happen, the world would indeed change and little Asifa’s death would not be in vain.
We often get along with a group of people who we find similar to us but often stay away from those who seem different. This is actually a very limited way of being. To expand our consciousness and way of being, we need to perceive others in a different way.
