The 16th of December: Remembrance
Ubaidullah Pandit
Now in remembering Nirbhaya, the 23-year old victim who was beaten, gang raped, and tortured in a private bus she had boarded on 16th of December 2012, we see the bravery and mettle with which she fought and ultimately attained the martyrdom thirteen days later. With her remembrance, we also come to realize how justice still eludes her poor soul despite four years on. We also get the glimpse of the dark side of our nature, how brutal and savage we can turn; how inebriation leads to disasters and crimes which even the devil won’t venture on. Nirbhaya stands before us lamenting and regretting the system of justice in our society. She wails and weeps over the plight of women, the pain they go through all their life. She points to the very fact that we are yet to become human. In her remembrance, we find where we have reached, what we have become and where we stand as human beings.
The remembrance of this day also reveals what happens when we do away with the religion of humanity we all share, and impose our own version of made-up ideologies and stop at nothing to make it gulp down every throat. On this day in 2014, the TTP, the extremist and religious fanatic group, committed one of the brutal and merciless massacres in history. They slaughtered over 150 school-going children. Without caring about their being children, sinless, full of innocence, they showered them with bullets. In the remembrance of these buds who were trampled upon, never to bloom ever, we are presented with the questions we might not be able to answer. Where do we stand as Humans? How far is the road and how much is it going to take for us to reach the road of Humanity where all other roads converge?
Today
marks the anniversary of two brutal and vicious incidents that took place on
this day, i.e. 16th of
December; one in 2012 and the other 2014. The incidents revealed some of the
darkest sides of man, manifesting how a group of men can turn beasts.
Before I say something about them presently, I would like to say a few words
regarding anniversaries. Anniversaries are not always to be celebrated or
mourned. Their remembrance and observance should go beyond celebration
and mourning. They act as reminders and lessons, setting rules and precedents
for our future conduct of different sorts like social, political, ethical and
so forth. Looking from that perspective, anniversaries act as a form of
tutelage and edification of the minds of people. By remembering something, we
essentially refresh and revisit our thoughts and ideas we have of that
particular thing, thereby lending ourselves an opportunity to look at things
objectively and from different dimensions. In a way anniversaries should act as
yearly classes for our socio-psychological progress.
Now in remembering Nirbhaya, the 23-year old victim who was beaten, gang raped, and tortured in a private bus she had boarded on 16th of December 2012, we see the bravery and mettle with which she fought and ultimately attained the martyrdom thirteen days later. With her remembrance, we also come to realize how justice still eludes her poor soul despite four years on. We also get the glimpse of the dark side of our nature, how brutal and savage we can turn; how inebriation leads to disasters and crimes which even the devil won’t venture on. Nirbhaya stands before us lamenting and regretting the system of justice in our society. She wails and weeps over the plight of women, the pain they go through all their life. She points to the very fact that we are yet to become human. In her remembrance, we find where we have reached, what we have become and where we stand as human beings.
The remembrance of this day also reveals what happens when we do away with the religion of humanity we all share, and impose our own version of made-up ideologies and stop at nothing to make it gulp down every throat. On this day in 2014, the TTP, the extremist and religious fanatic group, committed one of the brutal and merciless massacres in history. They slaughtered over 150 school-going children. Without caring about their being children, sinless, full of innocence, they showered them with bullets. In the remembrance of these buds who were trampled upon, never to bloom ever, we are presented with the questions we might not be able to answer. Where do we stand as Humans? How far is the road and how much is it going to take for us to reach the road of Humanity where all other roads converge?
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