The dilemma of a migratory bird

I was very young back then. Everyone in my neighbourhood had done it at least once and they had stories to tell. I loved hearing their tales. I always wanted to fly far and wide. See everything that I had not seen and only heard about. But I was apprehensive, at times afraid. Listening to their stories, I knew, it could be tough and ruthless out there. As beautiful as this unseen world was, there were troubles and things could get tough out there. I had a choice to make tonight. Should I fly this season or wait for another snow?

If I did not fly, I will loose another year while everyone else enjoyed tropics. I will be left alone, braving this winter with my best friends’ old grandparents while him and everyone else will be seeing that beautiful world out there. But if I did fly, it will not be easy. It will be tiring. Finding those worms to eat, those trees to rest on and avoiding being hunted down - all of this will require lots of work. Constantly and consistently. Then there was no guarantee. I did not know what was in store for me out there? For all I know, I might not be able to make it across the ocean. I was really confused. I did not know what to do. Time was running out. Everyone else was leaving next morning. Very early morning. Even before sun comes out and while it is still dark. Earlier than what granny calls ‘twilight’.

Thoughts of granny reminded me of days when I had no doubts in my mind. No dilemmas, no decisions to make. But she had told me one more thing which I never forgot. She said, “There will come a day when you will have to fly. Like everyone else does. Far from here. Far from snow. You will be afraid and you will have doubts. You will worry about things. But at end of it all, you will fly. Because that is your destiny. Our destiny. But always remember no one leaves forever. You will come back. To the same place. But things would have changed when you come back. Snow will be gone and so will be many other things. Being replaced by all things new. You can not stop the change. You have to adapt to it and you have to learn - to live, to fly and to come back to where you belong.”

I thought about what she told me. She was usually right so I decided to fly. Next morning, even before the twilight, I was ready to fly. And we all took off. I looked back. It was all white and my big home seemed such a small place. The trees looked like shrubs, shrubs looked like leaves and leaves looked like dots. Things had started to change already. I turned my head away and I saw distant lands. Places and things, hitherto, unseen. Here was this new world in front of me. Until I came back, this was my home.

The sense of nonsense

It is not often that we witness a world full of possibilities as envisaged by the definition of humanity. On the contrary, it is a rare or, to put it as a matter of fact, an obsolete occurrence these days.

Today was another such day. This world woke up to fifth straight day of Israel-Hamas standoff in West bank. I mean, the current form of standoff. I have lost the count of how many times and in how many ways they have come face to face in past. Trying to kill each other. And kill why? Because they want to live. This irony – destroying lives to live - fails me. To kill and kill again so that lives are saved. This does not make any sense at all. I will not and I do not want to lay blame on any one party for starting this. My sensibility does not permit me to do that. I believe a war starts when a blame is laid. A dispute surfaces when a finger is pointed out. We clash because we collide.

Any conflict is born out of desire. The intensity of desire and the insanity of resolve determines the extent of destruction and the resulting chaos. At the root of this conflict also is a desire. Inner desire of all Palestinians to be a part of organised state and to enjoy privileges afforded to every other human being. For a quarter of century, while Israel was building itself into an ideal democracy amidst all the hostilities, Palestine was mere a British controlled community. Israel was and is synonymous of a resolve that is not individualistic. It is a symbol of social resolve and mass desire. It is also a symbol of success, human bonding and democracy. Palestine is not. Not that it is Palestine or their people’s fault. It is their ignorance and a common insensibility pervading their society. It is also their lack of constructive social resolve which Israel possesses in unquantified measures.

Palestine is a nation gone wrong. Not because they did it wrong. But because they did not know how to do it right and because they did not have leaders to shape it up through its entire building process. History is witness to the fact that great nations and ideal societies are built by a few visionary leaders. It’s an easy job to maintain a society in its current form once the baton is passed over. Toughest part is to build it into an ideal society subscribing to all the doctrines that humanity advocates. And that Palestine missed. If only David Ben Gurion had a half brother across the West Bank border, things might have been very different. What it has, instead, is Hamas. Which wants its men to marry four women and breed as many children as possible so that all of them can fight and die for the Cause. Where is justice in that for all the children of Palestine?

And Isreal – Palestine is not the only story. There are others. Civil conflicts in Africa, Terrorism in India, Cartels in Colombia and many more. All of these born of out of desires. We are most evolved of species. So are our desires. Having broken off the barriers of primary needs of food, shelter and safety, we want so much beyond.

A desire to control, desire to seize, desire to overpower, desire to own, desire to excel, desire to beat. What happened to the other form of desire that we read about in books? A desire to give, desire to construct, desire to nurture, desire to pacify, desire to build. Are these only confined to books and fantasies?

Something has seriously gone very wrong. We love to hate each other. On the basis of caste, creed, origin, religion, colour or anything that we can think of. We have to stop finding sense and pride in all our nonsense and foolishness. Big question is – can we do it? So far, no. But there will be another day and hopefully there will be a generation born with a wonderful dream. A dream to coexist and to live for each other. To give and to build will be their legacy not to kill and destroy.