All that you have is your soul (Tracy Chapman).

Thursday 27 November 2008

Mumbai Madness

Those sickening images we are seeing from Mumbai, wending their way through the global telecommunications that we all plug into begs one single question.

Why?

Why is one human being spending his/her time planning the murder of countless others? Why is this person not working in a decent job, trying to make a living, just like the rest of us?

I went to school today, interacted with the kids, showed them that I gave a damn about their futures and came home. This evening, I sat there for three hours, planning lessons, wondering how I would teach them tomorrow and how they might react to my methods.

At no single moment did I think about how I could harm them. It didn't occur to me that maybe tomorrow, Heaven forbid, someone would be sitting in a room planning to kill either them, their friends, relatives or neighbours. For me, the amount of time I spend awake is given over to fanning a different sort of fire, the kind that encourages young adults to go out there and make their existence on earth worthwhile.

I looked at the coverage on TV with feelings of despair, frustration and anger.

Tomorrow, I will go to school and plant some seeds. I only hope that out of the hundred I sow, at least one will go out into the world and add a little light to the very frightening darkness.

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