We are in one of the worst humanitarian crisis of the recent times in human history with the Taliban taking over the Afghanistan governance. They insist on one religious tradition, one way of dressing, one way of schooling, one way of life style, one way of societal structure...it looks like women would suffer from alienation from opportunities for higher education and professional pursuit.
I took time to look at the way nature allows plethora of patterns and styles. All the feathers in a bird's body are dissimilar; the petals of the same flower have differences between them; the leaves are of different sizes...What is alike the other!
We live in a setting of confluences and diversities.
For a while now, there is an insistence on sameness in India, with a pressure on people that they have one habit of eating, dressing, worshipping, political leanings, etc.
I feel choked and overwhelmed by this pressure to conform.
There has been an erosion of values, no doubt, because of which more regulations are in place, and yet it is not enforcement that helps, but engagement with people to help them to choose what is noble and altruistic.
In the Good Samaritan story, two pious people ignored the wounded man lying on the wayside; only a stranger thought of him as a neighbour and offered the respite and care he needed.
A society is a place where people with all shades of morality and habits live and co-exist. Those who feel that there is a higher way of living with morality and altruism ought to campaign with people to revise their way of living.
Apart form this way, I feel uncomfortable to be on the side of people who have a conformist rigid attitude!
When I came to work in a medical school, medical students wore dresses of their choice. They looked colourful. For the last three years they were compelled to wear a uniform. I am uncertain of its advantage except to announce that they are students.
The fullness of life comes from an inner orientation towards values which include others as the beneficiaries.
When Mother Teresa set out on her journey to spend her life with people in the streets, she chose a simple life style. When the multimillion rich Tata trust decided to give away as much as they could to hospitals to set up COVID care facility, they saw it as their moral compulsion. Both of these are examples of living for making a difference in the lives of others.
The idea of sameness and insistence to conform to certain external behaviour patterns create a compulsive instinct which make people live in misery, anguish and stress.
The earth is a heaven of diversity! Who on earth can perpetually suppress this truth and make conformity as the way of life! Such thoughts are short lived. We suffer during such times; but the liberation when it comes, would bring greater light for humanity to live by!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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