Dear Society,
A few days ago, the brutal murder of a seven-year-old boy shook us. Opinion pages, visual media and social media were disturbing. If I had to sum up everything I felt after the incident, I’d say, “Humanity is dead and we are worse than beasts.”
My son who is in class two heard the news from my parents, who wanted to educate him on his safety. “You should not trust anybody in school, not even the aunties (school helpers),” stated my mom emphatically.
I heard her patiently as whatever she was telling him was for his own safety. And I am sure other parents must have also educated their children on similar lines.
It was when I was trying hard to rebuild my child’s faith when the second shocking news hit – a five-year-old girl was raped in school. I came crashing down – what should I teach my child? To trust only parents and not trust anyone outside of the four walls of home? Was I being over protective? What will he do when he faces the real world?
I wonder if he’ll be able to build relationships based on trust in his youth because right now we have taught him to not trust anybody.
Are we being fair?
A closer look at most of these incidents reveals that the perpetrator is a person from the lower ladder of society – conductor, peon, compounders, security guards and so on.
I understand that we live in an unequal society and a lot of people on the lower end are denied opportunities to go to school, go for higher studies, to have a say in matters that concern them. I believe that sometimes these inequalities build frustration that may take the shape of crimes.
The onus is on all of us to reduce inequality, we may not be able to give them high-end jobs or send their children to fancy schools but we can definitely talk to them as humans who have problems. I have always shared my problems with them as I feel that this humanises us.
I think it’s time we work together to build a just and fair society!