Honour Killing is a disgrace to humanity

We are living in a world which is a global village. Yet, we are so influenced by the so called social imagery that we do not realize that the world around us has move ahead of the 21st century. Let me put it with a right example. The minute you travel to the other side of the planet, what happens, is the fact that you are identified as an Asian First (Based on the continent and color). The minute they realize that you are from South Asia, you are regarded with your country….here all Indians Unite…we look for Indian neighborhoods’, search for temple, look for cultural associations and good schools….here what matters the bonding is ‘Indian-ness’. Then, people speaking one language unite over the social events, calling themselves as Telugu Associations, Tamil Sangam’s, Bengali Unions, Gujarati Temples… and then we bring in the divide which we had back home in India…yet there is unity. Here the language unites.

Over the borders, and besides the transformation, the identity in the name of Religion and Caste fades away. Slowly even this generation of regional identity is ignored, and the communities based on professions emerge…like doctors club, engineer’s wing and auditors lounge… so there is no time or reason to keep up the fake social image any longer based on caste or religion.

As such the world is getting divided in the name of Religion to a greater extent influencing in all wrong reasons possible. This honour killing is just a fancy term eating away the fruitful younger generations. Every adult have a right to marry or love the person of his or her choice and fundamental rights of India, provide freedom in all means possible to its citizens. In the name of fake prestige, honour and caste, we are killing the very fabric of secularism. Do the relatives or the society around such orthodox parents have time and thought to worry about this issue when there thousand other things to take care of. Society should come out of the rigid and useless sentiments in the name of caste and community. The real honour lies in acceptance of a person from a totally different religion, faith, community with warm hands to welcome and bond with tolerance and consideration, to bring in a fruitful society.

Killing people in the name of honour is just a media –fiasco and more and more people want to get into a limelight making this a new social issue. The humiliation will end to those victims with death, but to the parents and families, the trauma is for lifetime. For media, it is yet another breaking news, so the best way is ignore it and bring in a amendment to laws that would punish people involved in such incidents and do not give it a national coverage. Stringent laws and implementation of those laws, and providing protection to those who seek the help of law and order, would end this menace very soon. It is not just a disgrace but it is beyond comprehension to kill our own kith and kin in the name of social prestige. It is the time to think beyond and look at the longer horizons of truth and end this unnecessary social evil.

Awareness about Character Building

“Character maketh a man”. We have been growing all these years hearing this adage, and all the moral values that our long heritage and traditions have taught us. Despite all the upbringing, the big bad world out there is easy to provoke us towards an easy character assassination and many times, people get succumbed to it even without realizing it. Many of the people who lost social respect, self-esteem, confidence and bigger goals, are those who first failed in their character.

Is character just a social image? It was. It is no longer a social image, but an inner discipline that guides us and leads us through a virtuous path of living. Character is not built in a day. It is like building a city. It takes years, and also a long effort to maintain it. It takes years to build a process of self-discipline and it just takes one stray incident, one vulnerable moment and one odd circumstance to ruin it.

Character building begins at home. It begins with every mother. The very way, how we act, behave and endure certain things over certain period of time, influence our children without saying. As elders, we have the utmost responsibility to maintain ourselves in such a fashion that children, will learn from us, and would be following us. Then comes our teachers, society and the people around at large who could influence. Limiting the time and programmes of what children watch and keeping a guard on their activities on internet, brings in a sense of security in children though they may find it frustrating at the beginning.

 

Character essentially does not mean to follow sentiments and orthodox ways of living. It has to be a right blend of modern thoughts, dreams of future, a focused path of growth and a guided faith. Here the faith is in the future of the upcoming generations; generations free of doubt, fear and intimidation and filled with truth and real moral fiber built with right attitudes and respectful character personalities. Let us rebuild our societies with good moral values, human virtues of friendship, tolerance, care and concern and empathy…to bring in a world of peace, harmony and brotherhood…ending wars of Nations, religions and materialistic greed.