Opposites!!!

When my teacher taught me that white is the opposite of black in my 3rd grade, I never realised it’s ‘shouting-in-your-face’ meaning. It never dawned on me that they are the highest degree of opposite. Today at the age of 23, I would like to contemplate the true meaning of ‘opposite’, considering the shocking scenario of a rape and murder and torture and so on of an 8-year-old girl.

A temple is supposed to be a place where we put our hearts into an ultimate figure of faith and hope. People say that they find peace, tranquillity in mind, a noble connection with the omniscient power and what not (which they cant find anywhere else!!). We pray for goodness and good luck of our children and for their beautiful lives, such that they will not see any hand of harm in their way. But what did we see?? A nightmare, an act of cruelty on a kid of our country, whose parents believed and prayed like everybody else. The parents of that kid lived to see their yet to bloom child being smothered by a rape and a murder. What happened to all those prayers and faith they put in just to see their daughter fall for the lust of some beasts. I want all the temple-goers to remember what they will see when they close their eyes to pray for their children in the same temple where a girl and humanity was destroyed. Imagine what all the female goddesses would be doing right now??

I have some more ‘opposites’ to explain about. We live in a scary world of unexpected dangers, where we need a group of human beings with weapons for control and statements to impose on those predators who prey on the weak of the society. Am speaking of predators in the human clan. So this group called law officers are those, who are supposed to uphold law in the most glorious way. They are to prevent and protect a human from another human when acted inhumanly. But last week I read a horror that these law officers have preyed on a fragile, little girl with kidnap, torture,rape, assault, and murder. This is like a gun backfiring and cutting through our flesh rather than shooting ahead. A shameful and bitter example of horrendous act in mankind.

The next case am about to tell is, let’s call it ‘induced opposites’. The complex thing called religion, which rules stamping down humanity. The world looks at you as a Muslim first, then if you are a Shia or Sunni and next if you are a strong man or a vulnerable woman and lastly if any breath is left as a human being. The member of same biological species. I was taught that religions promote peace, shares unique culture, stands for righteousness and teaches to be humane and tolerant. But show me religions which are firmly rooting on these grounds. Man has divided lands and built boundaries because he couldn’t stand for these values. I don’t remember instances where religion has concluded conflicts with peace and trust among people. I am sure this was not the intention of our forefathers who subdivided into religions from just being humans. So two influential, intense religions have torn up the land I live in and the humanity into bits and pieces, that I don’t want to represent myself in this subdivision that is only wrecking horror in our land. Religion blinds people of their flux in wrong doings so much that I want a world free of religion. I doubt that on this day, in this era that religion can act as any beacon to foster unity and tolerance among us humans who share same DNA and biology. I would make kids aware that religion is the perfect model to explain ‘opposites’ and it is alright to do so.

Democracy is the universal symbol of freedom and expression. I was taught that democracy is “government by the people, for the people and of the people”. What it actually means is that even a common, powerless, poor man(or ofcourse a woman) can wake up to voice for freedom and exercise rights. It also means that the government honors people to cherish ‘ the act of doing what is on my mind’ and not a bank fraud or killing sleeping people on pavements or killing the ones who speak truth and so on. But freedom always entails taking responsibility and acting so. These days Democracy is highlighting anyone as powerful despite them not knowing their limits. In the same brutal case, some branches of the great Government tree showed their power by standing up against justice. Yes- ‘against’, where the powerful forcefully covered its tracks of wrong deeds and protested against the justice. This is irresponsibility and overdose of power of the representatives of democracy, corrupting the very core it stands for. This is a practical example of ‘opposites’ children must be taught of, before they reach the legal age of voting.

If these were the examples my teacher would have taught when I was an 8-year-old, I would have had an insight of what opposites mean. And today we stand in a situation where we can’t even console a family who lost its 8-year-old daughter to most gruesome, cold-hearted act that is a nightmare to every parent. We are lost in a sea of shame and hopelessness, seeking the direction in search of humanity. On this day we can only hug our kids and imagine the pain that little girl must have felt when she was hit on her head with a stone several times, crushing hopes and dreams, for a reason only her being a fragile, innocent little 8-year-old girl. We should not let our kids step into the darkness that is right below a bright, powerfully glowing lamp. Again an opposite.