OK ... this one is going to be a mixed bag. Though, i would like to see this as a far more positive thing than anything else. There are news reports ... about a child, and his mother, who have been abandoned by his father. The reason? The child has a hole in his heart, and this requires surgery. What is the beautiful part about this story is the fact that this brings out an important tale ... that all hope is not lost. A mosque in the city of Lucknow has adopted the child and his mother. And the elders are making sure the little child has a chance to live. They have collected money from among the members of the congregation for the child's surgery, which is to happen in the month of October. Hindustan Times writes that after they broke the story, they have received a lot of requests to help the little one.
Contrast this to a prominent social activist venting anger at the police in Gujarat for a strange incident ... during the post-Godhra riots, a police constable found a little child, and took him in, and handed him over to a couple to take care of. The issue is that the child is Muslim, and the foster-parents Hindu. And, the child, today (according to reports in newspapers) doesnt want to go to his biological parents. The activist believes that the constable acted irresponsibly. One wonders ... whether love should be considered supreme to professed religion? That too the way we are using religion towards a myriad number of ends?
Now, the question ... why do i think this story is bitter-sweet? Simply because, when i searched the websites of some of the leading newspapers for this story, i just couldnt find it. This is the strangest part ... a story which brings out some of the best elements in humanity is so well hidden in the inner pages of a newspaper that its so difficult to find ... one wonders ... do we really care?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Mosque Takes In Child, Mother ...
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5 comments:
Like one of my jiju says, if religion means hatred amidst fellow human beings, if religion means fighting with one another in the name of God, if religion means "tu-tu-main-main" in place of "bhai-chaara", and if religion means all this and more and more violence... then i would rather be an atheist.
All religions preach love above everything else, but we human beings fight and promote hatred in the name of "love" for our religion... tragedy! - do we really "love" our God? cos if we did, we wouldnt have been so narrow minded in our outlook
precisely the point ... something which Sri Ramakrishna said! bottomline, we find people using religion for things which religion itself doesnt justify. And, in the process, we end up blaming religion. This is a trend which must stop.
I was recently wondering whether the term "Society" could very well be replaced with term "Media". They dictate what's spoken about by deciding what to write about. It takes some complementary but critical elements to bring that which is hidden out in to the broad daylight! Democracy must do its duty. The Internet helps!
i see that as one of the major contributions of the social computing surge ... giving a voice to people like you or me. Common folks, who still have a voice, who have something to say!
Great post much appreciate the time you took to write this.
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