A Senseless Act

The news about the deadly train bombings in Bombay came out of the blue yesterday. Having been to Bombay numerous times I have seen the trains click-clacking by so many times that it is almost part of the background. Yesterday, that normalcy was suddenly and violently changed forever with the bombings that have killed close to 200 people and will have likely killed so many more.

The attackers, whoever and wherever they are, chose to detonate the bombs at a time when they would have been packed with the most people, and that time is rush hour. Most of us here think of rush hour in terms of traffic on the road or packed buses and trains. In India that takes on a whole new meaning as public transportation is often filled to the gills with people. That makes any such attack most assuredly a deadly one with a high fatality rate. But in the face of all this, one question remains. Why? Why were these targets chosen? What message was trying to be sent?

Whatever that message is, it has gotten through loud and clear; but at what overall cost? No matter what side of the issue you take on topics such as Kashmir, Korea or any of the other hotspots around the world, it does not justify attacking civilians to get your message out. Every victim of yesterday's bombing was someone's husband, wife, father, son, mother or daughter. Some may have had a very passing association with whatever problem may have driven these terrorists to bomb the train. However, at the time they were doing nothing more than attempting to get home.

The world isn't a perfect place, nor will it become so in the short run. I have hopes that the world will someday become a safe place for our children and their children. Slowly but surely we are beginning to head in that direction but with these senseless acts of violence erupting around the world, that goal seems a bit farther off. The further tragedy is that the deaths of these hundreds of people, as well as the deaths that are occuring around the world, will have a short term impact. We will sense the tragedy of the situation before moving on with our lives; but nothing will change until we change it.

Gandhi once said, "We must be the change we wish to see." For these terrorists, if they are seeking change, they are going about it in the wrong manner. Killing innocents to gain attention to spread a message spreads only one message in my mind; and that is that death and destruction is a sad way to make a point, that too when it is against innocents. Remember, the next time it could be your mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughter out there who is killed because someone wanted to make a point. Isn't there a better way of doing it rather than squandering the one precious freedom we all share.... Life?