Just One More

Just One More

Just one more bomb blast. One more usual statement from the government. All the political parties condemning it with the same old words inside Parliament, but outside, as usual, the opposition attacks the government, and the ruling party defends itself in familiar terms. The spokespeople of each party stick to their predictable party lines. Again, the same resilient Delhites. And finally, the same old discussions on TV channels with the same kind of panelists and the same repetitive questions.

One panelist remarked that while he was at work, he heard about the blast. After watching TV for a while, he continued with his tasks, knowing it was just one more bomb blast. He even said that people are going on with their regular lives, and those watching TV are simply changing channels. His final comment struck a chord with me. When I heard about the bomb blast, I didn’t rush to the news. I continued working as usual. When the news came on, I listened to the headlines, then switched the channel to a classical music program while continuing with other tasks. Why? Because I (we) already know how all the channels will spend the entire day covering the incident with the same repetitive footage. For the next two or three days—or until another interesting story develops—their focus will remain on the bomb blast. Whether or not the affected people are resilient, we, the viewers, become desensitized.

I feel sorry for those affected by this tragedy, and my sympathies are with them. But when I watch the news, I find myself grateful for the person who invented the remote control, allowing me to change the channel and avoid watching just one more of the same incident.

Finally, this won’t be the last such incident—there will be many more to come. May God save us from them. But there won’t be just one more wave of public resentment. We feel helpless and become victims not only of terrorism but also of the poor administration of the government, regardless of which party is in power.

We’ve learned to live with it, and we must continue to learn to live with it as long as we have the same old politicians, political system, and government. Some politicians cynically ask, “What alternative system do you propose?” We may not have an answer, but we have every right to question them. So, learn to live with hearing many more just one more…

Dayanand Bharati, Gurukulam, September 7, 2011