By Maryam Hedayat
“Muslims are busy in shopping for Eid and people of Gaza are busy buying coffin every minute” wrote one of my Palestinian friends on her Facebook status.
No doubt, I was really very sad and upset over what she expressed in solidarity with her fellow Palestinians. Millions around the world sympathize with what is happening in Palestine at the moment.
However, I got much sadder when I met my friend just after half-an-hour. I was stunned to see her discussing about dresses, designs and sandals which she had bought to wear on the occasion of Eid.
I wondered: Is she the one who had posted the heart-touching lines about the suffering of Palestinians just half-an-hour before?’
There is a similar story of another Arab family known to me. Almost, without a pause, they post every day on Facebook about the tragedy and trauma of the people in Gaza. Surely, they generate a lot of sympathy in the hearts of public.
But when I meet them physically, I am astounded to find them lost in the discussion of immediate interests around them such as the latest trends, newest gadgets and plan for picnic and so on.
I query myself: ‘Does there seem no connection between what they post online and how they actually behave offline?’ ‘Is it just a mere habit to post what comes on people’s way or is there any genuine feeling involved in the process of sharing online?’
Perhaps a week earlier I went through a picture in which a Palestinian man was holding the dead body of his son in his arms brutally battered. The tragic image was truly disturbing. It was horrible to hold eye on that.
I reflected: ‘If the image could be so heart-breaking to see, one could imagine the gravity of tragedy in real.’
But what was to be noted is that the people around the tragic scene looked more concerned to take the best snap of the dead body that was in father’s arms by their mobile cameras than to be seen involved in the woe of fellow-beings.
Sharing images or any piece of tragic news happening around the world is not bad. It surely adds to public awareness.
But the exercise of sharing must be in conjunction with the deep spirit of feelings behind. It should not be limited only up to the art of sharing online only.
The tragedy should be felt within and pragmatic outcomes should be generated out of somber thoughts in the direction of helping people who go through tragedy.
What is happening in Gaza is beyond the expression of one’s imagination. The agony of the people cannot be communicated in words. It is to be condemned in the cruelest possible manner.
The war is not about Muslims, Jews or Christians. Armed conflict causes sufferings to all.
It should be about humanity … children are being maimed and killed in the full glare of world media, and sadly there is no one to speak to halt the carnage.
The modern world seems to have gone to the barbaric Age. The so-called civilized world shows so much of uncivilized discipline that one wonders if there could be any genuine effort to bring peace around the world.
It is really a very depressing and backward movement in the history of human civilization that turns a blind eye to the death and destruction of the weak and the suppressed.
At the same time, it is equally frustrating to see people sharing tragic images without any sort of feelings involved in them.
Both seem to be the products of human callousness and heartlessness. One results out of hatred against a particular community to exercise supremacy and the other originates from human lust to seek hedonistic pleasure.
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