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3 days ago only I came across a gruesome video doing the rounds over the internet….a mother beating up her daughter mercilessly pulling her hair and slapping her profusely while the child …just about 7-8 years…cried profusely, shouting and crying for help. It angered and pained me, like thousands of others who helplessly watched it on their screens, beyond words can express….I choked at every cry of that little girl, wishing I could jump in and protect her…somehow! But what pained me even more was….. the ‘silence’…a deafening silence of the full grown adult ‘audience’ who watched this scene live….standing just a few feet away, doing nothing but stare….with someone amongst the ‘audience’ being ‘not so numb’ enough to film the whole episode and publish it too… like all of them had no power…absolutely NO POWER to stop one maniac woman from abusing a little, helpless child!
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2 months ago, another similar video… a man was physically assaulting his wife right next to a fairly busy road, while the wife hurled verbal abuses at him. The man was apparently drunk…the woman furious. Some watched silently, some complained about the noise they made, yet others could be seen smirking and making fun of the couple…and some were busy video recording the ‘scene’… perhaps to circulate later and prove they were such responsible citizens who care to raise these issues. What’s surprising is that no one cared to step up and question the harassment, to stop the commotion, to stop the abuse!
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Yet another time, I saw a video of office abuse, where a lady boss was shouting at her junior, embarrassing him publicly, calling him ‘incompetent’, ‘stupid’, ‘good for nothing’, right in the middle of the corridor while other office colleagues passed by intermittently, listening clearly to the harassing monologue…some even standing and watching the whole scene…of course without interrupting…again! Of course someone secretly made a video this time around too.
These are stories that are narrated and lived around us by millions…..some of physical, and yet others of emotional abuse….some by strangers, some by family members and friends…. with hundreds of people playing the roles of abusers or abused and millions playing that of ‘dead heroes with living eyes’….the ‘commanders’ of all evil. While the abuser is always called out and shamed publicly (thank God for that!), I wonder why we should stop at that! We’re living in a culture where most people stand mere spectators to a crime, while some noble or not so noble person (depending on the intention) takes the risk of recording the crime on camera….a wonderful use of technology that can bring justice to the culprit. But…..why not call the cops instead using the same technology? Why not intervene and say….’Don’t do it!’? Why not encircle the bully…rather than encircle the scene of crime…and prevent them from acting physically? Why not stare into the abuser’s eye and let your silence speak? Why not scare the bully, before they scar somebody for life?
Do we lack spine? Are we living in a culture of fear? Is it the bully that we fear? Or is it the repercussion of our intervention? Do we fear stepping up for what is right? Or do we simply don’t care …because ‘the abused…is not Me or Mine’?
I ask YOU….yes, YOU….what did you do the last time you saw someone being treated wrong? Did you step up to question it? Did you try that amends be made? Did you report about it? Or did you simply sulk, gossip and become ‘silent’ about it?
Humans can move mountains…..together. Humans can bring a revolution…collectively. Humans can topple governments and dynasties….if they use their power to stick together and shout out the truth. History is a witness to this truth! Wake up, people. Raise Your Voice against injustice! Raise Your Hand to STOP the abuser! Raise Yourself to more than What you’ve Made of Yourself! HUMAN…be what you were intended to be. Else, history will remember you only as a fearful, disgusting race of mute and blind mice! Without any gender connotation, I say, “C’mon! Be (a) man!”
Get Up! Roar! Pounce!
Remember…”He who does not oppose evil commands it to be done”!
