Sounds and Peace

This is a poster I noticed in the drive way of a  large office complex. 

Can sounds disturb peace!

Peace is inner quietude, comfort and composure no matter what may be the external circumstances. Can there be peace even while external circumstances are turbulent!

Anna and I have travelled approximately five hundred thousand kilometres on Indian roads. I have deliberately avoided honking usually, for the last twenty five years, although it is an acceptable practice on Indian roads. Every time I hear the honking, I must confess that I feel disturbed, and uncomfortable. There is a transient restlessness which is the opposite of peace. 

I presume many road travellers would not feel the way I feel. So I have been more tolerant of this honking practice in the recent years till I began to realize that honking disturbs the well being of children who have hearing impairment, muscular hypertonia, autistic behaviour, hyperactivity behaviour, seizures, attention deficit, etc. Of course they form a minority of the travelling public.

Many drivers with whom I have had conversations on honking tell me that driving is made easier by honking. They are unwilling to be mindful of the disturbance it causes to children, the noise pollution it creates and its intimidating appeal on the pedestrians. With the freedom to honk, some drivers overspeed, which endangers safety.

It is always the minority that have to adjust to others. This is the societal way of constituting the frame work of behaviour in a civil society.

Let me suggest another way that Jesus of Nazareth conveyed through a parable of invited guests for a banquet. When the three invited guests did not turn up because of their pre-occupations, the host invited the people living in the lanes and margins of the town. They were ordinarily excluded from such privileges. They got included this time for the privileges which were ordinarily reserved for the elite.

While the civil society can justify its actions and behaviour in favour of the majority, there is a higher calling to transcend this conventional approach- to be mindful of those who are excluded, inconvenienced or harassed by our preferred  ways.

Honking is not just a trivial issue which the poster claims to disturb peace, but it is an archetype of several events and happenings in civil society where we live unmindful of others.

Up until, the least in our society is made comfortable and valued, we are still pursuing a personal pursuit. Humanity is created for a collective journey.

M..C.Mathew (text and photo)