Imagine you are in a busy traffic. You could hear the sound of siren of an ambulance behind you at a distance. In spite of the driver of the ambulance trying all tricks up his sleeve to somehow wade through the maddening rush hour traffic, there are few people who refuse to listen. They just want to get ahead of others come what may and don\u2019t realize it could be the life or death situation for someone. There are few others, who just follow the ambulance in order to nose ahead of others in the queue. We keep reading the news of indifference shown by people around when unfortunate things happen to hapless people, be it robbery, accident or whatever. As a society, we have developed a thick skin and have become less sensitive to anything which does not affect ourselves and our closest family members.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
From the height of selfless sacrifice of Jeemootavahana – who died for the cause of others to become a \u2018living example\u2019 of the ancient Indian saying Paropakararthamidam Shariram (\u092a\u0930\u094b\u092a\u0915\u093e\u0930\u093e\u0930\u094d\u0925\u092e\u093f\u0926\u0902 \u0936\u0930\u0940\u0930\u092e\u094d)<\/strong>\u00a0– life has come a full circle for us. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (\u0935\u0938\u0941\u0927\u0948\u0935 \u0915\u0941\u091f\u0941\u0902\u092c\u0915\u092e\u094d)\u00a0<\/strong>– whole universe is my family – has been re-written; now it is \u2018Family is the whole universe\u2019 for us! In our unquenchable thirst for amassing wealth and comforts we don\u2019t even think of the future of our own progeny! A quick look at the headlines of everyday newspapers, which carry the news of corruption by politicians, bureaucrats – sometimes even in those places where we shudder to think of corruption – like judiciary and defense sector, is enough for one to feel the all pervasiveness of this deadly virus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a poem by Lutheran Pastor Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemoeller, a poet who belonged to the era of Adolf Hitler:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n First they came for the Communists, <\/p>\n In the above poem Niemoeller, who was initially a supporter of Hitler, changed his allegiance and turned against him. The Hitler\u2019s army initially came looking for Communists, and since the poet was not a Communist, he did not take notice. Then it was the turn of Social Democrats and then Trade Unionists. The poet was none of these and he just kept to himself without bothering to react. They came looking for Jews and since poet was not a Jew it did not affect his security. Ultimately, when the Hitler\u2019s army came looking for the poet himself he looked around in disbelief, everybody else was already taken by the army and there was no one to help him in distress! Imagine you are in a busy traffic. You could hear the sound of siren of an ambulance behind you at a distance. In spite of the driver of the ambulance trying all tricks up his sleeve to somehow wade through the maddening rush hour traffic, there are few people who refuse to listen. They just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"column-article.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-column","category-window-seat-jayarama-korikkar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWell, I was not a Communist \u2013
\nSo I said nothing.
\nThen they came for the Social Democrats,
\nWell, I was not a Social Democrat
\nSo I said nothing,
\nThen they came for the trade unionists,
\nBut I was not a trade unionist.
\nAnd then they came for the Jews,
\nBut I was not a Jew \u2013 so I did little.
\nThen when they came for me,
\nThere was no one left who could stand up for me.<\/p>\n
\nThe motive of the pastor is immaterial for our purpose, it appears he turned an evangelist subsequently. But the message he gives in the poem has a universal appeal. It is relevant for today\u2019s fast food culture than any other time in the past!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"