Ruthless
Carnage
The developed nation
Easy access to
Arms and ammunition
To common men
Also to hunters and
Target shooters....
Broken homes
Insecurity, anguish
Frustration, anger
Pent up emotions
Insanity, hatred
High alert security
A known devil
Sneaks in but
The Satan is neither
Known nor unknown
Has neither face nor religion
He just appeared
With a venomous heart
Blasted his way into
The “sandy Hook”
Sprayed the innocent
Little Angels with
Bullets fired
From his handguns
With far and close range
Leaving twenty kiddos
And six adults with
Devastating wounds
All over all over ..
The classroom
That imparted knowledge
Turned into a battlefield
With pool of blood and
Heart breaking wailing....
Beautiful Connecticut
Picturesque Newtown
Busy with holiday tree lighting
With apple cider, hot chocolate
Getting ready to greet
Their very own “Santa”
For their little ones
Planning Christmas gifts
With
all the gusto
Plunged into mourning
Shocked and horrified
Rushed to the school
Which they trusted
To be the safest
Place for their children
Only
to see them
Defaced, soaked in blood
The inconsolable
Grief stricken parents
Too shocked to
Believe what had
Happened to their
Own flesh and blood...
Whom do we blame ?
Whom do we hold
Responsible for,
this heinous crime?
‘Lanza’ –the Satan
Who lost his mental balance,
Or all those adults
Who never gave him,
that emotional security
Or the easy access
to those guns...
I am yet to find an answer...
Arundhati
23-57 16th December 2012
As I watched CNN and read the report of N Y times
about the ghastly killing of 20 innocent children aged between five and ten and
6 adults, I did not know how to react, my heart sank and the pain has occupied
major part of my thought process, so much so that I am not able to come out of
it or think anything else.
After 2 days I could express my feelings in the form
of a poem.
We all need to seriously ponder, find out where we
are going wrong. We have made a tremendous progress in almost every sphere of
life but I think in a bid to chase success, money and comforts we have left our
children starving emotionally, failed to give them that emotional security or mental stability.
After all Adam Lanza was not a born terrorist, if
the reports are to be believed, he was a bright and ambitious student. What then forced him to take such a drastic
step? What prompted him to kill his own mother? Why did he target the innocent
children? Is it that he was so frustrated with adults and thought of saving the
young children from all that what he was going through in life? Or he did it
just for the sadistic pleasure?
Many such questions are springing up in my head like
the demons that sprang out of every drop of blood that fell on the ground, from
the body of a mythological demon “
Raktabeejasura” but I am not able to get any satisfactory answer.
Why do we then buy the toy guns, violent video games
and introduce our children to speed and violence at their impressionable age of
plasticity? In 1984 when my son Tapan was studying in Junior KG class, I had
bought him a Leo toy gun which made rattling noise of multiple firing. I was a
young mother in my mid twenties, for me buying the latest toy for my kid was
just to make him feel good.
One day Rev. Fr. Herbert, Principal of Fatima High
school where my son was studying, dropped in at our place. He started asking us
how we were bringing up our kid. We showed all the books and toys that we had
procured for our son. He picked up the Leo Gun and told on our face “ I didn’t
expect the educated parents like you to buy a destructive toy for your little
one who is so well behaved and bright” he then walked away with the toy gun. My
son never asked for it again.
Today I am reminded of Fr Herbert, though I am clueless
as to where is he at this moment. But I have not forgotten the great lesson he
taught me.
What kind of previous Karma these twenty kids had in
store that they just withered away before blossoming.....What sin the parents
had committed to mourn the death of their
little children, while they had planned a great Christmas for them? Why
were those adults-Principal, psychologist and teachers killed? Did they do
something wrong by trying to protect those who were under their wings?
I salute
those two teachers who could save some children by hiding them in a class room
and by helping them escape through the window. God bless them.
But what would be the mental state of those children
who witnessed all this? Will they trust and go back to school? All we teachers
need to think about it.
Everybody talks about globalisation, universal
brotherhood at the drop of a hat but how many feel that compassion for all
other human co habitants of this globe?
I sincerely appeal to the Lord to give courage to
all those inconsolable parents and relatives, my deepest condolences.
Let us all pray unanimously for all those Souls who
departed us and wish them a ‘Merry Christmas’ in His Kingdom with God Almighty
Himself.
Amen.
