I, We the Common Man

Today the moment he’s out of his doorstep, he isn’t sure if he’s going to return home safe and sound, to be more precise, alive or dead. He gets a compensation of Rs 1 lakh from the government if he has lost his life and Rs. 50,000 if he is severely injured. Wondering who is he? He is you, he is me. He is the common, hapless person on the street who is always the victim irrespective of his/her caste, creed or religion.

Think about it. What most of us often do when we are in a situation like what happened on that gory Thursday in Assam? We make few phone calls to our family, friends and relatives, ensure if they are fine, take a sigh of relief and forget it. The terrorists have always taken advantage of the poor memory of the public and their tendency to forgive and surely forget. It’s high time we change our attitude and stand united in combating terrorism.

The government should neither be nor allowed to be satisfied by offering a few currency notes to replace the lost human lives. Some basic questions that prick the common man are what’s the point of being a nuclear super power and having the third largest military in the world when one fails to protect itself from the continuous terror attacks? What’s the point of spending billions of rupees in defence every year? What’s the point of claiming such pseudo powers?

It’s time and almost late to ask ourselves and act on a couple of questions. How long are we going to be passive observers to what’s been happening around us? Simply put, there are two options we have. Do or Die. And the latter is inevitable if we continue to follow John Milton ‘on his blindness’ and say, “They also serve who just stand and wait!”