Because I CARE!!

I have often been questioned why events such as Brexit and the US elections impact me on a personal level. I have tried to answer them rationally thereby trying to keep in check my passion for issues which according to most people do not affect me directly. However, through this space … which exclusively belongs to me and my readers … I can give a vent to my emotions. Yes … I get deeply affected by what happens across the world because boundaries have ceased to matter to me anymore. War on Syria affects me as much as Boko Harem in Nigeria … I celebrated falling of Mosul as much as Modi’s attempt to weed out tainted money from the Indian economy!

I might be labelled as someone who emotes a lot … I emote a lot because I CARE!! I care about issues which transcend the boundaries of my country. Issues such as climate change, terrorism, religious fundamentalism, patriarchy, misogyny, nuclear militarization, racism are no longer limited to one country. These issues impact every single person, nationality and religion notwithstanding … It is like asking how is an earthquake in Haiti different from the earthquake which shook Italy? Water shortages in Pakistan pain me as much as water shortages on my home turf. It can no longer be about my country. It MUST BE about my world. When our aspirations are all about obtaining a degree from an American university followed by our pay packages in dollars then how can we be oblivious to the elections on the American soil? When we wish to take a vacation in Europe how can we not be affected by growing racism in European countries? We want fuel to be cheaper but we shall not bother about who has the control over the oil wells in Iraq? For us high alert on festivals is a reality and we turn our backs towards increasing religious fundamentalism as an outcome of alienating an entire diaspora of people because of their religious beliefs.

It is unfortunate that we mock people who speak freely about these issues and often call them pseudo intellectuals!! I have been accused of ultracrepidarianism and pseudo intellectualism because I CARE about starving kids in Ethiopia and deaths caused by Somalian pirates. While, I do not owe people any explanation for my opinions, it hurts when I see the sheer insensitivity people display toward issues which to them are infra dig, insignificant and inconsequential.

Life has been kind to me and while I might not be able to do a lot for a lot of these issues, the fact that I acknowledge the existence of a problem is an indication that I am not living in my own bubble … Reading the newspaper and lamenting about some road accident is not my everyday quotidian ritual. I get moved by what I read … I felt pained when a woman of 14 was brutally raped in my neighboring state and the pain did not feel any different when Kurdish and Yazidi women were reduced to sex slaves and spoils of war. It is impossible not to feel miserable when there is such sacrilege towards human life and in the event you dont feel for such issues, chances are that compassion in you is but a vestigial organ.

Let us not forget that we can no longer remain unaffected by what happens around us … What happens around us shapes us and shall shape our future generations. Time, space, distance are losing their hold on us and our lives. We need to get act together and like Clinton said … if we stand together and work together, the best days are ahead of us!!

With love … Sugarsatchet