“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.” – Mahatma Gandhi
The past few days I was wondering if we will ever come to know the real meaning of what truth is. Is it what you see with your own eyes or what lies beyond words beautifully spoken but has no meaning at all? Is it what you see on the roadside, little kids begging for a scrap of something to eat, men and women extending their hands for a few coins and an unkempt baby carried by a distraught mother in the corner of the metropolis hoping for a little help from passersby. There was this old man (maybe he is really not that old but time hasn’t been kind) I often see begging in one corner of the street going to the church here in our place. He has his two feet bound by dirty gauze with the toes protruding, with foot ulcers on almost all his toes. His eyes speak of the hardship, sometimes staring at those passersby maybe hoping for a few coins to fill the small plastic can in front of him. I wonder how he could even walk with those swollen feet and blisters on his legs. Such is the truth as I see it, it stares at you in the face but sometimes you turn a blind eye because you are not the one affected.
I often wondered how some people could still sleep soundly amidst the lies they tell to the vulnerable citizens of the country. I guess social media has a lot to answer for because they use it without any qualm for the outcome of their lies. Trolls and bot are all over the place. The shaming game, the ugly words uttered left and right, the lies told with such a straight face you would think they are telling the truth, the profanities and expletives you get to listen to day by day. Is this the new norm? I am afraid for the little kids who get to imitate and accept that those ugly words are just new ones they learn because they hear it every day – that it is alright to curse and say PI in front of prime time television, that it is alright to shame a woman fighting for the truth, that it is okay to laugh at some dirty jokes that demean someone, that it is okay to kill and kill without due process.
Where are we going? Truth has become just a word without meaning and lies are more believable. We keep silent and the future seems a narrow road of discovery.
Where are we going?
Dreams And Escapes 