Kerala is going to have local body elections on October 23 and 25. We are witnessing unprecedented campaigning and new promises being delivered by all candidates. The bottom line is that all want to win. All want to serve and all are doing it as social service. They tell us that there is no hidden agenda and that development is the key. They have all come into politics to ‘save’ the various panchayats and municipalities of Kerala.
Thus candidates of all ages, gender and political affiliations have a religious tone to them in the form of the save all attitude. But even after analysing candidate after candidate, one does not understand what they intend to do for five long years, apart from saving all of us. It is sad that there is no platform to bring all together and make them explain what they are going to do. Online electioneering will take a bit more of time and so we have to rely on what they say to our faces.
The poor and the rich in Kerala are into a spirituality which is uni-religious in confession and multi-religious in action. This is because people are willing to do anything to get their things done. One has to then wonder that if politicos did indeed fulfil their promises, the picture would have indeed been a bit different. So we are faced with the difficulty of saving one of the candidates to help them save us. It is a quid pro quo. You save me and I will save you.
I am indeed confused. My religion tells me that God saves and I am just a part of that saving process. But the candidate tells me that I can save and win too! This election process has thus put me and many others in a dilemma. Do I become God for a day and vote? Or am I being made into God for a day to serve all the other days? Coming to think of it isn’t that what the candidates are supposed to do? Serve the people and stop being God after they have ensured victory? Everyone wants to play God! Is God watching?
Showing posts with label save. Show all posts
Showing posts with label save. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Who shall save whom? World Environment day
Are you saved? This is the sales pitch (no offence meant) of Christian groups and even certain sections of mainline churches. Obviously the pressure is such that it makes one think as to whether one is indeed saved! We examine our life, the acts we commit and eagerly take our tokens waiting for judgement day. But have we really done enough to sit back, relax and wait for the D- Day? Is what we are experiencing in the form of increased temperatures and melting glaciers a part of the signs of the end of times or is it that the reign of God is here and now and therefore what we sow, thus shall we reap?
What has, being saved and the world environment day got to do with each other? Everything, one must say. Can we be saved in isolation, leaving others to rot in hell? Or do we strive for a more communitarian way of being saved, not just me, not just everyone, but also everything? (For those who would find it difficult to term a tree a she/he but would rather call it a thing) This puts into context the question, ‘Are you saved?’
How can agents of destruction basically ask the question of whether one is saved or not? One has to accept that every religion, sect and group (Barring primal communities like tribal and adivasi’s who don’t have an institutionalised religion) have committed destruction for the purpose of the advancement of their own religion. This is also why it is true to say that, ‘there cannot be any development without destruction’. But to what extend? And if this is so, who are we to talk about saving, when all we do is actually destruction?
This can be questioned by pointing out the steps taken by various religions and churches to plant saplings in every corner of the earth. But unless we rethink our development strategy there can be no turning back of the clock. What has been done has been done and it is only going to get worse because no one is going to slow down but will rather look to up the ante.
Does it then make sense to have a token world environment day when all that we do is actually a farce because when given a chance we will opt to save ourselves and not the environment. It is yet another thing that we time and again forget that by saving the environment we save ourselves in the process too! As usual we will also talk about going back to our roots and to what people did earlier and how they lived in sync with the environment. But we have gone too far in our development process to pedal back so much.
I should not sound too pessimistic. But I can’t sound optimistic at this juncture too. We are in a real soup. Faced with global warming and erratic climate changes, we have pushed the panic button. But we fail to understand the concept of sacrificing oneself to really save someone else. Just like any grand tree would do. It would do good for all of us knowing fully well that we would axe it down at the first opportunity. This is the attitude we need to have, ‘Save someone (thing) and we will be saved too.’ Happy World Environment day!
What has, being saved and the world environment day got to do with each other? Everything, one must say. Can we be saved in isolation, leaving others to rot in hell? Or do we strive for a more communitarian way of being saved, not just me, not just everyone, but also everything? (For those who would find it difficult to term a tree a she/he but would rather call it a thing) This puts into context the question, ‘Are you saved?’
How can agents of destruction basically ask the question of whether one is saved or not? One has to accept that every religion, sect and group (Barring primal communities like tribal and adivasi’s who don’t have an institutionalised religion) have committed destruction for the purpose of the advancement of their own religion. This is also why it is true to say that, ‘there cannot be any development without destruction’. But to what extend? And if this is so, who are we to talk about saving, when all we do is actually destruction?
This can be questioned by pointing out the steps taken by various religions and churches to plant saplings in every corner of the earth. But unless we rethink our development strategy there can be no turning back of the clock. What has been done has been done and it is only going to get worse because no one is going to slow down but will rather look to up the ante.
Does it then make sense to have a token world environment day when all that we do is actually a farce because when given a chance we will opt to save ourselves and not the environment. It is yet another thing that we time and again forget that by saving the environment we save ourselves in the process too! As usual we will also talk about going back to our roots and to what people did earlier and how they lived in sync with the environment. But we have gone too far in our development process to pedal back so much.
I should not sound too pessimistic. But I can’t sound optimistic at this juncture too. We are in a real soup. Faced with global warming and erratic climate changes, we have pushed the panic button. But we fail to understand the concept of sacrificing oneself to really save someone else. Just like any grand tree would do. It would do good for all of us knowing fully well that we would axe it down at the first opportunity. This is the attitude we need to have, ‘Save someone (thing) and we will be saved too.’ Happy World Environment day!
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