terrorists and the rest of us

The whole nation and countries beyond our borders are focussed on eliminating terrorism and terrorists. However, I doubt if anyone has pondered- Why are these people turning into terrorists? Why are these people ready to give up their lives to disrupt life? Why are these people ready to live like recluses only to end their lives being shot or dismembered? Until the real cause is not looked into, we will not make any progress in bettering our current state.

Almost all of us have made mistakes in our lives- some big and some small, some ready to make us wince and cower and some to make us laugh at our foolishness. The mistakes that these terrorists have made are not pardonable. Taking a life is equivalent to 'brahma hatya' (killing the self) and no one has the right to do so. This is also the reason why the courts of law rarely hand out the death sentence. However those that indulge in killing and violating a woman's chastity should be handed the death sentence and life imprisonment respectively. The faulty have to be punished but at the same time all the nations need to come together to educate the humankind. No power in the world can bring back the dead and no power can console those who have lost their dear and near. I know I cannot feel their pain but I can understand it to some extent.

Don't we all know the story of 'Angulimala' who under the guidance of Buddha abandoned the path of 'Himsa' and embraced 'Ahimsa' and this huge feat was accomplished by 'Love'. Love and Compassion for humanity is what is missing today in our decadent world. Most countries have weapons that can kill humankind many times over but...

The terrorist once, was a cute baby and an innocent child before he/she turned into a monster. Why? Until we understand that there will be killings and mournings. Educating humankind about the basic values is the only way we can prevent some of us turning into monsters. So the rest of us are partly responsible for the creation of these monsters. With our indifferent and callous behaviour we are creating many Hannibal Lecters. 

I have raised the question but what do we do to prevent such a catastrophe in future? We all know what should be done but we just do not spend time and energy. Trust me, this solution will take a few centuries since the conditioning that we have in our minds is difficult to cast off.

Spread love and compassion, through our thoughts, words and actions. Over a looooooooong period of time, there will be peace. Sounds impossible? Well, we have had weapons for quite some time and that has not solved the problem so why not give love a shot.

By the way, if we do not like a politician who is in power then the people of the country have, the responsibility and power, to impeach and remove that politician. As V said, "People should not be afraid of their government, governments should be afraid of their people."