Friday, February 25, 2011

Civil Society: African Governments must protect the People of Libya


We need concrete steps to save lives in Libiya, hundreds of innocent people are dying because of one person's greed for power. The world needs to come together and do everything in its power to stop this massacre.


Thursday, February 17, 2011

Revolutions: Where are the international laws, the human rights, the sanctions, their advocates and their implementors?

What world are we living in? In the name of revolution or curbing the same, people are dying, harassed, sexually abused and all the world doing is to talk about it!

Where are the international laws, the human rights, the sanctions, their advocates and their implementors? Where are the international tribunals? Why do all these good systems come into action after the fact? How many times are we going to let the likes of Rwanda genocide and bloody revolutions in Eastern Europe and/or Central America be repeated without timely intervention?

The sad reality is that before any international law or treaty is signed, their loopholes are worked out by the non-cooperative States. Even today, while the world is celebrating the revolution in Egypt, the death toll is still rising, same goes for Bahrain, Iran, Libya and other countries in the region.

I do not support any particular party or group in any of these countries but I strongly believe that the common people and the mainstream ideology must be able to lead a nation. A mother and a child mustn't be afraid of their dear one killed by their own governments. It is too much to ask for?

The world is smaller now, it is easier to get the proof of brutality and to send it to the right places. And we know many daring people are doing that but some of us who have the power and authority to take the action are stuck between our own agendas and justice.

Human Rights activists will have to get smarter, quicker and more and more neutral to save human dignity and basic human rights. We know until human beings are not treated with dignity and do not enjoy their basic rights, there will be no long lasting peace!


Rebuilding hope

Monday, February 14, 2011

You can do it!

Fight disappointments, find ways to keep your head over water because it is possible. Do not let any disappointment ever snatch your hope away. Every cloud that hides the sun of hope comes down in the form of rain, that day you dance in the rain to celebrate your resilience!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Little packets in our minds

Sometimes we have a set opinion or terminology for a certain type of people or relationships and overtime when we are encountered with them, we react almost the same way.

It is almost like little packets (पोटलियाँ) filled with a set of words and thoughts that we have stored in our minds for specific people, situations and relationships. In this fast world, it makes it easier and quicker for us to respond to different situations. On the same token, this arrangement may ruin or rotten relationships and situations.

In order to evolve as souls, we must try to open these little packets in our minds one by one. Every time we face a similar situation that we have faced in the past, recognize the newness of it. Yes, we can learn from our past experience but we need to start afresh or give it a new conclusion.

Let us free our thoughts and perceptions from the little packets of prejudice and generalizations. Forgiveness, hope, desire to move on, and love are some of the tools to open these packets.  As these packets are opened and thrown away from our being, our souls are renewed, peace is established. We get new insights from each interaction and are able to bless those who come in contact with us.


Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Work hard on building trust and respect, peace will follow

There are conflicts in so many different parts of the world today and many of them have been going on for several decades. It is unfortunate that while we, human beings, have been able to conquer the moon, communicated while seeing each other across continents and build monuments like 'The Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal,  'The Leaning Tower of Pisa' and so many more, we can't conquer our own selfishness and anger, we can't communicate effectively across the table and still fail to build strong and harmonized relationships.

I used to think that conflicts arise due to differences in color, nationality, ethnicity or religion. But I was so wrong. Conflict do not arise because of these differences, they arise because some of us are lead by our selfishness or our anger, ego or sometimes just our craziness.

This can be illustrated by recent examples, the revolution and the consequent violence in Iran and Egypt, those who were punishing and those who were being punished both were from the same nation and followed the same religion. Another great example is the shooting in Tucson, the killer and those who were killed were mostly white Americans and probably followed the same religion. I am sure you can think of several other examples where one attack people from the same nationality, religion, ethnicity and color as their own.

On the other hand, we see thousands of humanitarian workers who work with survivors of disasters and conflicts with love and compassion without focusing on the differences that they may have with the survivors. Long term relationships are developed during these times not based on the race or religion or the nationality but based on good deeds, compassion, understanding, respect and trust.

Let us not deceive ourselves and feel divided based on the false categories that have been bestowed on us. We are all one, we may look different, act a bit different but if we make a little effort we can all live peacefully and make our creator proud of creating us!

I am not OK

I am writing this on behalf of thousands of people, particularly the humanitarian workers around the world, who are not perfectly ok. Many o...