I was going through the newspaper and there were news about communal fights between two communities in Orissa, India. There were many reports of bomb blasts in recent times at various places in India and these blasts were made by some group which upholds some cause which it thinks is right for its own people. I was just wondering how come it is right for some people and wrong for many others. If it is so is it right or wrong? These thoughts always come into my mind when I think of terrorists bombing some place or the other. If someone has to give up his own life for some reason then according to him that reason should be right in all possible ways. It will never be right for the others since everyone thinks differently. Somethings may be right for some and may not be the same for others.
Thinking deeply about the terrorist activities, the following thoughts came into my mind. Why do they indulge in these kinds of activities? The answers which I could figure out is, they get money if they carry out such activities or they believe in their principles deeply and assume whatever they do is right or they don’t like something and wish to destroy them for some reason. I could not figure out any bigger possibilities than these. Why I put money in the first is, people agree to disagree that money is evil but they badly need it and after certain level it becomes a big obsession. Nothing becomes as obsessive as money. Some people believe in their principles strongly and that becomes an addiction and whatever they do to support their belief is always right for them and they can justify the heinous acts that they do with the belief that they have. Some people just can’t stand others and instead of looking for better alternatives in life as to how to coexist with them they prefer not to have them at all in life and try to hurt them and kill them for their own good.
Out of the three reasons I quoted above, I strongly feel that the main reason for so much violence around the world is the belief that some people have. Why do I have such a thought is because most of the violence that happens around the world is owned by some particular group and they claim to have done such heinous act cause they think something was not correct. When can you think something is not correct? Only when you know that it is not correct or assume that it is not correct. When you can decide that something is not right? Only when you know everything about that issue by facts and then judge it. When can you assume something is not right? Here you have millions of reasons for assumption, but a strong reason is that when you have own beliefs and you can’t just accept others to be right anytime. I mean any time or any point in life.
ROJA is a beautiful movie made by Mani Ratnam based on the issues in Jammu and Kashmir. The story is really touching and it is very simple. A computer engineer is assigned a job in Jammu to decrypt an encrypted message and he is abducted by a terrorist group. The story revolves around the terrorist and engineer. Both are good and they follow their own ways. But to viewers the engineer is a good person and the terrorist is a bad person since he abducted the engineer and does something that the society does not approve off. But if you think deeper, whatever terrorist is doing, he has a strong reason to do so and I am not supporting the terrorist or his activities any time, but what I want to convey is if you see from a terrorist view point he is always right. Why does he think so when the entire world thinks otherwise?
I was wondering when I can do such a thing. How can I convince myself that what I am doing is right by hurting others? How on earth is it right on my part to hurt others and get pleasure out of it? All these thoughts just rush onto my mind. When I thought about these things, I was convinced that if I believe in something very deeply without any logic behind it then whatever I do will always be right. If I do something emotionally then I am sure that I am right since my brains can’t just break away the thought that I can be wrong. This is the best answer I could get after thinking a whole lot of time.
The only way violence can be stopped is by not having an obsession with the thoughts of ours and with our beliefs. It is better not to have any assumptions in life regarding our beliefs. It is good to think that others can also be right and they too have a strong reason for what they do. It is always good to coexist with others in harmony. After all why give so much pain to others in life. I strongly believe in the following principle, if I can’t give someone happiness in life it is fine but I should never hurt someone badly in life.
Give up your obsession with your beliefs. Make the place where you live a better place for the next generation.
Jai Hind!
Engineer's Finance 