Take diversion

Its a war against terror! Thats the hot ( or has it already become stale?)topic doing the rounds at the media houses. And the numerous crash courses on how to lead a peaceful life, the self help books.. whew! The world just seems to be so full of people who want only peace but are forced to live in a harsh environment!

The inherent restlessness of the society is only becoming more apparent these days. Every community has its own version of it- terrorism, resistance movements, communal riots, murder, sexual assaults, petty crimes ... So, assuming that this is not what we want, how did such violence and terror become established?

Think about it! We can probably be looking at these from many angles like- mode of expression (violence/ offense) , target population ( antisocial ) etc if we go the routine way. But if we decide to take a deeper look at it, we might probably have to examine the root cause behind all this unrest. What good reason can there be at the root of societal unrest of different natures, some of you might ask... or the better lot of you might actually pop out with the answer that the injustice done to the perpetrator somewhere down the line by the society or its prominent members is what is the common thread is.. Well, may be thats true. But that still doesn't address the basic question ( atleast from how I look at it)

To me, the root of such restlessness traces down to the way we equip our citizens to live life. Take a look at any of the millions of schools around the world. Almost all of them, with may be some exceptions , use punishment as an effective tool to handle any misbehavior. No fault of a child is tolerated in a classroom and is invariably awarded with either a physical punishment or a mental one (being labeled, insulted in front of the class). It is here that we sow into those little minds that any deviation from the normal/ accepted behavior should be dealt with severely. No attempt is made at actually analyzing the fault, understanding it or correcting it. We do not make allowances for the innocent actions of those children. In many cases, the kids come to know that they actually did something wrong only when they are punished for their actions. So it is recorded into their minds that this action is not accepted and repeating it would invite the wrath of the teacher or any adult for that matter; no explanations offered as to why it is not acceptable, how it would hurt the others. You hurt me- I hurt you harder... thats it. This is what we convey to our kids. Perplexed, finding no one to offer an explanation, these kids develop a database for themselves on the list of unaccepted social behavior and the punishments associated with them. This becomes their Bible in interacting with people. Even when two kids fight, the teacher punishes the one who appears to be the most aggressive and tries to put an end to the issue. MESSAGE: Stop a violent action with greater violence. The strongest then, seems to be the fairest. May be this is our own way of interpreting Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Too much of science to be brought in to human relationships!

As the child grows up and encounters with any injustice he thinks is done to him, he just reacts the way he has been programmed to. Afterall, we haven't taught him to think.. We've just taught him to follow.

If our race can admit to this blunder that we've committed, it'd probably help us revise our methods, if not undo. And for those of you who've been wondering what this world is coming to, its just following the coordinates that we've set. It would be hence, wise for us to change the coordinates before its too late.