And just like that .....
..... the first 2 months of 2022 are past us now ....
The central theme of the last 2 years - the pandemic - seemed to be finally easing its iron grip on the world as nations, economies, communities start to limp back to a life more resembling the one we left behind in 2019.
Yet, before we could adjust to the new normal, out of the blue and because we as humans, simply refuse to learn, war, an act of aggression against another nation comes back to our horizons, our homes, our TVs and our realities. And we thought this was a medium of decision making decades ago!
Covid was not anyone's choice or atleast we still assume it wasn't ..... war is.
Recently, I have been reading the book "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari and was quite interested by the ways in which we, humans, have developed over millions of years; however equally intriguing seemed the ways in which we have continued the ways of the less civilized society of yesteryears. And this war seemed to take us right back to times when might was considered right!
And I wonder, will we as humans never be able to overcome our inherent not-so-pleasant traits that actually helped us come this far - is it biologically and sociologically impossible to get beyond them? Is slipping back and returning to the jungle laws, even if perpetuated by some, natural?
I believe a key learning in our human journey has been the matter of choice - where over zillions of years, we have learnt to chose what takes us forward, not backwards. I am sure, in our own lives, we have had situations where we've had to make decisions, to chose not to behave in "inappropriate" ways, however tough those choices were. We chose to be humane, genteel, compassionate, we chose not to harm one another. We chose!
And yet after so many years, we stand at the crossroads again, and watch a world already weakened by the pandemic take on an unnecessary hit because some still consider war as an option, a calculated choice.
I am unable to fathom how to fix this - how to change some people who still believe they can choose to harm another simply because something seems right in their own perspectives, how those, even when slapped, will ever learn that slapping back is not an option.
A different world order is still possible. But only if we all gave Peace a real chance.
Is that Utopic?
"War is not inherent in human beings. We learn war and we learn peace."
- Elise M. Boulding
My sincere prayers for all the innocent lives displaced by this outrageous attack on Ukraine. May Peace return to their land and their hearts as soon as possible. Amen!
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