Extreme ways

We have been hit. Again. With every attack, the feeling of helplessness grows stronger among us. We were supposedly the next super power. We were doing extremely well financially and were developing. Yet, as of 7:26 pm on Nov. 27, 2008 a country on its way to being a super power has been smashed, tattered and raped.

Ratan Tata said today that while this was no time to point fingers it was clear that the govt. had not learnt its lesson the last time. Had it done so, it would have put up a security infrastructure in place. He wished we would all learn the lesson now.

And he is not wrong. We may have always been a peace-loving country but it was in a time when the world still relatively played by the rules. Desperate times call for extreme measures. We have lived safe, almost self-centred lives for too long now. If we have to live in an environment such as this, which threatens to catch us off our guard, we have to learn to be on our guard.

We need a compulsory 1 year army training for every person after class 12 to enable each to defend himself and fight. More importantly, a training that will make each one of us understand that our country comes before us. It is not enough to talk about it, harp on the sentiment, send SMSs to news channels and then forget about it. It means understanding that my life is far less worthy than that of 50 others who may be with me when disaster strikes. That I will not run for cover when someone comes charging at me but I will stand and fight, and by God if I die even without so much as making the other person flinch, I will die a happy person. That I will not be bullied into looking the other way if I am not the one who is being hurt.

There has been too much of blame-putting. Too many questions, too much expectations for a hero to save the day. Each person needs to realize the hero in himself. To quit being scared. Heck, if we continue living like this, we will all eventually die in one bomb blast or the other. We might as well fight it.