B.RAMAN
What we are seeing in Israel and Gaza is not just a
war.
It is not just a ruthless exchange of fire.
It is not just missiles, air strikes and naval
barrages.
People are dying on both sides.
It is a struggle for survival.
One is dying in order to assert one’s right to
live.
One is dying in order to assert one’s right to
land.
It may be just a piece of graveyard.
Or just a place of worship.
One is prepared to die for that.
To assert one’s right to live,
One is prepared to kill,
With missiles, air strikes and naval barrages.
To assert one’s right to land, one is prepared to
destroy,
Anything and everything.
With missiles, air strikes and naval barrages.
It is a struggle sans victory.
One had seen such struggles before.
One is seeing one more now.
More ferocious than in the past.
It is not going to be the end of ferocity.
It is never-ending ferocity.
To assert one’s right to live.
To assert one’s right to land.
If more ferocity could establish the right to live
and the right to land,
It should have been there by now.
Has the time to think not arrived?
Can both live together----the Israelis and the
Palestinians?
Can both live together---the Muslims and the Jewish
people?
The time for escalating ferocity is over.
It is time for dawning wisdom.
One sees no sign of it, though.
The need for wisdom---that is what one has to
address.
Not the need for more missiles, more air strikes,
more naval barrages.
Let us search for wisdom and admire it.
The time for admiring Israelis’ prowess and the
Palestinians’ courage and resistance is over.
It is time to look for wisdom in both. (18-11-12)
(The writer
is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi,
and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate
of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter @SORBONNE75)
