The defining feature of the human condition is the inevitable fact of the birth and death of all life on Earth. Time waits for no one and it will waste away all ambitions, youth, glory, fame and name. Our ancestors, as the current generation understands them, are revered because of their sacrifices and the related results that we enjoy in the present time. Will our children view our contributions to religion, culture, society and the environment as worthy of recognition? Will there be a gap in history? Will our contributions ever be as great as those in our past?
Each day that goes by, we cement our place in the halls of history while we continue to revel in the ignorance of our impermanence on planet Earth. One man can change the course of history and another will not. To which group do we belong? If my ancestors have followed traditions for thousands of years and have flourished on such values, how can a new society banish them in a few decades? Progress should be slow and steady but sure.
Today, the movements of the cultural and religious tides are no longer caressing the shores; they are now bashing and eroding the foundations that our ancestors would have painstakingly built with sweat, blood and tears. It is foolish when a society that has changed shores adapts and adopts the negative and backward values of “civilized” societies. Current trajectories in religion, tradition, ritual and worship are creating pools of conflict and destroying entire communities because of ignorance. It is necessary when, annually, we reflect on our own identities and re-connect with our pasts that we think deeply of where some pockets of our communities are heading. It is necessary to rethink, recollect and reinvent ourselves to live in line with “dharmic” values. A belief system that is eternal is there for us to rely on to sustain us through dire times. Our children will remember us for what we have done to make their stay on this Earth a better place. Wake up, arise and become stalwarts in your own communities.
Pt. Varistha Persad
