the last tragedy

It is like surfing on the waves. Waves of Life and what it has to offer at societal and individual level. 

When a tragedy hits a nation, a community, a society, a group of people; it directly and indirectly affects us all. In the wave of things, or perhaps to route our helplessness, we create means of expression. A protest. Digital Activism. Few talks here and there. Few discussions over dinner and coffee tables. Few visits. Few tears even. 

Few programs on TV. Few blogs. Few updates and tweets. And few volunteer hours. 

We discuss. During the phase, we're standing so close to tragedy that even the thought of our own problems seem small. A feeling of our own problems at that time bogs us down to shear guilt. It makes us shake our heads and focus on helping or even just mourning. 

And then, days fly by. Like another wave, perhaps, a small gentle wave of our own personal things, problems, commitments and work takes us back to our own little world. The very same mind re-erupts its chatter of complains, issues and problems. The very same heart restarts on getting hurt by petty issues, noticing small things. And the very us lose ourselves in the race of living a normal life. Going with the flow, surfing through that wave, even the thought of the last tragedy seems distant. We move on perhaps. 

We think we haven't moved on. Because we still discuss the issue once a while. For those who resist the new surf and stay close to the tragedy are forced to leave it there. They are given lectures to get over it and "face life". In their face, in their hearts and minds, they are thrown heavy theories of Time. Everyone around who has taken the latest surf and moved on then finds it his utmost responsibility to sell the concept of Healing. 

But then, amidst all this, there comes a Direct Hand of Life perhaps. Maybe God in Action. Cutting through all this series of waves, sometimes, we, the ones who have moved on,  stumble upon a broken toy, a blood stained physics book or worse- the voice of the one who has lost not one, not two but three family members including his children. It is then when it hits us. We lose balance, we lose the wave of "Now", we pick up the toy. And feel. We talk to those who are still riding the wave of tragedy and think. 

We pause. Suddenly, the waves vanish. As it the waves of Life was nothing but an illusion. As if the whole concept of past, present and future is nothing but a mirage. Everything vanishes. What stays is You and that Voice. What stays is You talking to the Tragedy. It doesn't mean you haven't moved on. Perhaps, it doesn't even mean that you're depressed. It doesn't also mean that you are undermining the concept of "Time" and resisting to move on. 

What it means is, that a tragedy, an act of injustice, an imbalance in the Grandeur of Humanity is far above and beyond the realms of our physical plane. A tragedy is alive and remains so in the form of those affected. Ask a father who has lost three kids or ask a mother who is struggling with an injured kid. Imagine, the kid 20 years from now.

Would we be questioning and asking him if he has moved on or not. Would we be expecting him to have forgotten what had happened? Would we be judging which "wave" of Life is he on?

The only suffering, the only pain, the only challenge which is stands true and is the direct Test from Him - is the suffering inflicted by one group of humans on another. 

Since God is on the side of those affected, it just leaves the other group. That is the one who caused it. And we, the spectators, unfortunately, stand here. 

Let us look around, if the voice of the affected seems distant to us, if a bloodstained physics book surprises us. If we open our eyes to see our "wave" and not "them" around, then know it for sure. 

We belong to the other group. 

Every word of support left unsaid, every hand of support left not-raised, every part of our mind left to move on and every feeling of our heart left in cold is a stab on the wounds of the Last Tragedy. 

God is on the side of those who stand with the affected. God doesn't ride a wave. He did not even create us to ride waves of tragedies and moving on. 

He created us to stand with the affected and heal with them and through them over Time. He created us to stand with the Tragedy and combat the other group. For our silence is promoting Oppression equally. 

There is no wave. 

There is no moving on and staying on. 

There is just supporting the affected through Ehsaas (a feeling) or fooling ourselves into taking a wave of "moving on". 

Look for God, Look for them and go back to healing ourselves through them.