Broken Dream

Let me live one more time 

To dream the dream 

Noble life so divine

Ultimate challenge so cruel 

Life's beyond ponder 

Clueless heart innocent 

Bleeding in painful agony 

Finding solace in sadness 

Someone says dream big 

A dream turned fantasy 

Life's enemy worst 

Being's utter helplessness 

Oh! Pain so wonderous 

Sqeezeth life divine 

Love's dream to dream 

Just a broken dream 

Armless on commercial arm

Every city in the world has its commercial street. It's an incentive for us to visit any city in the world. This street attracts many people who either buy from the finest brands in the world or like me take a stroll for a window shopping. The glowing lights and colors of these streets tantalize our consumerist veins. Every material we gaze shows us how important for us to have it. In other words without it we will be lost. Hence there is a longing to fulfill our desires to have one or the other. There is a boom in the income of the people, that is because of the better job opportunities in the world. Wallets have swollen to the full; economy has surpassed it's bad times and has put money in people's pockets. In turn people empty the wallets  in these huge commercial streets. Therefore there is a flow in the economy. It becomes a cycle of spending and receiving. As an economist I tend to incline my article towards economical issues of the people. But my aim is not to dwell too much on it for this is not an exhortation on the subject. I would like give a food for our thought, as I was strolling through Bangalore's biggest commercial street Mahatma Gandhi Road, my eyes went to an armless poor person in the corner of a big designer shop waiting for the crumbs to fall from masters table. He is so poor that he didn't even have a proper clothing in the chilly evening and the irony is that he is right in the corner of a designer clothing shop. He has a small mat on which spread a few coins. What drew my attention was that there were a few coins of British sterling. This is the scenario of an armless poor beggar. I wanted to get close to him and have a small chat about everything. So I gave him some money so that I can get close to him. He looked cheerful to talk to me for I was the only person spoke to him for the day among millions people who walk this street. I was curious to know whether he knew the silver with brown coated coins. He said it's foreign money, well he knew that much. But he had no idea how much that two pounds worth Indian rupees. It would be around one hundred and sixty rupees. Now that's a lot of money for the beggar. I was curious as to where and how he would exchange those foreign coins. He told me a place and he said they give something and I take it. It's like something better than nothing. 

Two things that engulfed my mind that day, firstly, every fat wallet people failed to see the people in need, who didn't even have a proper access to clothing. A country can be rich for some and poor for the others. A country can showcase itself as rich by showing the best stock exchange booming bars, that is the reality of India. It is a country growing in its leaps and bounds for the global economy. It is in the spotlight where every one has this illusion that India will be super rich nation in few years time. I think it's time to look inward to our people who live without the proper basic necessities of life. It's time to invest in our people rather than looking for some multinational companies who take out from the pot. Let's build our economy for ourselves and let us not build it to show to the world how super power we are. 

Secondly, poor beggar was ignorant how much income he had, rather he was content with what he had. This is the reality that poor people are robbed of what they have. At the cost of the poor another builds their mansions and sky scrappers. Poor have feel the brunt because they are honest and genuine people. They know not how to make money through crooked ways. That is why poor remains poor and rich become even more richer. This world is full of irony. 

Can we break this irony and make it indiscriminatory reality? Can we come out of the illusion that we could be rich for the world whilst we have our backyard to be cleared first? I leave with two questions.    

An Asian missionary to Asia

One time I was challenged by the immigration officer at the Mumbai international airport whilst I was traveling to Guyana. The officer asked me a question with smug look on his face, why are you going abroad to be a missionary? Don't you think we have enough work right here in India? 

This was an indication for that we have a lot to do to bring religious unity in our country. Pope John Pual II expressed as he declared St. Joseph Vaz a blessed, "An Asian missionary to Asia." It is true Asia and particularly India is the cradle of religions. It is true that there is a religious allegiance to their respective gods. It is true Asia celebrates life with religious thrust to it. It is also true that we have a rise in the number of Catholics and particularly there is a boom in the priestly vocation. Hence there is demand for the Indian priests and religious to go to the west in order to stored the gospel. Let me reflect with you on the significance of religious people in a religion-full continent. 

St. Joseph Vaz was a devout priest in the mid eighteenth century who became the first saint of Sri Lanka. He went to Sri Lanka amidst the persecution by the colonialists who were Calvinists. The Dutch colonials drove out the Portuguese missionaries and killed the Catholics. Hence Sri Lanka became a strong Calvinist country where Catholicism saw its demise. It is at this situation St Joseph Vaz makes his silent entry into Mannar region of Sri Lanka. It was not easy task for this saint to preach the good news because Catholics were in hiding. He adapts himself as 'coolie', a laborer in order to reach out to the poor. He wore just the loin cloth in order to identify himself with the laborers. It is said that he even hid his Mass kit in his loin cloth for the fear of adversaries. He struggled to bring back the catholic faith for about twenty six years. It is when St Joseph Vaz prayed for rain, the miracle of rain happened. This incident changed the mind of the Buddhist king. He gained the protection of this non-Christian King, Vimaladharma Surya II. With this he finds a stronghold to spread the faith. He used Inculturation as a missionary method. He founded a Catholic para-liturgy and literature using the two languages and cultures of Sri Lanka, Tamil and Sinhalese; he practiced and taught Meditation.

Pope Francis canonizing Blessed Joseph as said exclaimed, "Saint Joseph shows us the importance of transcending religious divisions in the service of peace." Sri Lanka is a multi-religious country and it is crucial to work towards unity of every religions. It applies to every country. Religiously motivated violence is escalating in our times. Every religion proves that it's important and superior

to other religion. God's love has faded from the religion and man made radical doctrines have taken its roots. Hence man has become God and in the name of God so many divisive atrocities have destroyed the nations and its people. There is a silent decline of many young people from going to religious gatherings. As a young person what do you feel about religion? Every young person would like to have peace of mind as they achieve their goals in this competitive world. If religion brings them sheer sadness and division why would they feel to come to religious events. If we don't work and unite our young, our work will go in vain. First of all our young needs to know that we all believe in one God and that God is a sign of unity. Religion is supposed to bring unity and peace. We need to work strenuously like St. Joseph Vaz so that every hard hearted persons may be drown towards God, God of unity and peace. 

 

Triune God

Triune God of Allah Jesus Rama

Come down right now 

Your world beguiled by terror

Holiness lost in its worst 

Creature turned into creator

Mankind hath lost its humanity

Innocent blood calleth thou art

Blood that spills over the sacred

Humanity at its fall 

Little infants slain sacrificed 

Religion that dies injustice

Bringeth despair and division

Raiseth sword in triumph 

Cutteth every little throat

As libation for the gods of evil 

Triune God show thou power 

Our hearts are bruised 

Dripping drops of bloodshed

Wetting the noble humanity 

Seems evil has triumphed 

God of hosts come down now

Time has elapsed since I pleaded

I see strips of blood along my dream

A dream wanted to see honey

Oh! How have I lost Thee 

Poem written after the brutal massacre that happened in the school on Pakistan.

Blessed among Women

Photo: Amerindians from Kumo village in Rupununi

The dignity and respect for women has become a constant subject in the wake of recent happening in this nation. Women have been invariably going to the streets with placards in order to picket against male dominated authorities. Does anyone hear their desperate cry for justice? Even if anyone hears their, the authorities seems to calm them down with few sweet talks. Are women really free in this 21^st century, where women have gone to the leaps and bounds of the society? I want every woman to ask this question today, do women feel that they are also equal to men or even stronger than men, in regards to intelligence, talents, gifts, power and more importantly love?

Are women really free? When a husband in the flare of the anger sticks a gun against his wife’s forehead, is she really free? What will be her experience with that husband? This is an extreme example of violence against women. In the beginning of this year, Savitri Palmer, a hardworking taxi driver was sexually assaulted and killed near Timheri. Has justice been done to this person, even if justice is done, can anyone bring Savitri to life. I can keep citing incidences in which women have been victimized because of the violence against women. Every women reading this article will have some story to share, if not a nasty story, at least an experience of being teased or whistled at the street corners when you walk your way. If you have such experiences, then why are you silent? Who are you waiting on? Time has come, for you to show that you are no inferior to men. Let us try to break the chain of thought that goes on to think women are feeble and fragile. Let us break the popular understanding that men are the head and women are body or faculties. Men and women are complementary to each other.

NCN presenter, Mrs Bibi Narine asked me a question in an interview on the topic violence against women, how do you see man as the hard drive and women are the other programmes that won’t function without hard drive? I think that was a fantastic question. Jesus Christ is the foundation and head of the Church and we are his body. Jesus as the head showed a noble act of caring for women particularly the marginalized. One such caring gesture is, Jesus at the well with the Samaritan Woman. Jesus knew that as a male Jew not allowed approaching Samaritan woman, but He does an extraordinary act of care, love, compassion and life. He gives hope in life for the woman. Jesus Christ as the head showed love and compassion for the woman sent to the fringe of the society. Another incidence, in which, Jesus rebukes the men who wanted to stone the adulterous woman to death. Jesus protects her from the violent male dominated beasts who needed to clear a splinter from their eyes first before they could point a speck in someone else’s eye. Hence, our Head, Jesus Christ showed how to be compassionate towards women.

Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem, says, “the hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved…women are the gift of God, what he, as Creator and Redeemer, entrusts to women, to every woman…the Church gives thanks for the mystery of woman and for every woman – for that which constitutes the eternal measure of her feminine dignity, for the great works of God.” Every human person is a gift from God, temple of God and God’s spirit is in each one of us. No one has the right or privilege to destroy that temple or the spirit of God. If one does destroy, it is clearly we are destroying God himself. If women are the temple of God, no man should destroy that temple of God. The temple, which is sacred in which God, lives, hence every one should respect that sacredness of a woman. In fact, women are gifts from God and they become co-creators in God’s noble act of creation, and if anyone tries to snatch that noble act of creation from a woman through violence, we are in serious problem in our world.

St. Paul speaks in Ephesians 5:22-33, wives must submit themselves to their own husbands, as they do to the Lord. Husbands must love their wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish.

Man and woman cannot live in domination to each other, but rather as complementary to each other. Both have to coexist to continue God’s creation in this universe. They both have myriad gifts to offer to each other and to the society. Let us make our women feel good in our families, in our work place, in our Churches, in our streets and everywhere. Let them know that we love them because we are blessed among women.

 

Who is God?

Photo: An Amerindian mother/child from Guyana

We human beings time again ask a question to ourselves, who is God for me? Have you asked this question before? It is, when we ask this question we get clarity about my relationship with God. It is necessary to know who is God for me. By our nature we tend to adhere to something, which is material than immaterial, practical than theoretical and sensory objects than non-sensory. This is perfectly fine, because we are humans and we need these. But they not necessarily satisfy our human needs; mental and spiritual needs. We can have best material things, most attractive material things but still we human being look for happiness that wells up from within oneself. No one or no material things can give that happiness.

John Pridemore, author of “gangland to promised land”, goes on to share his life as a famous gangster who had every luxury in this world but he was lacking that happiness and God’s love. He transforms his life and thereafter he becomes the ambassador for peace to the broken boys and girls in the prisons. I was privileged to meet him whilst I was volunteering at Wandsworth Prison in London. Material world will not build our world, for it will give us a temporary abode after which we have to retire to ourselves to find peace within. Do you have that peace and happiness?

We are physical, psychological (mental), spiritual beings. We need to grow in all these three aspects of our being; hence we become an integrated human being. It is natural for some of us to depend too much on one aspect and ignore the others, in which case a person is not integrated being. We have to find our own resources to feed these three aspects of our lives in order to be healthy human being. It is natural for us to depend on material goods, but when material goods fail, we need immaterial being; we humans are mortal, non-eternal, finite, limited and none of us are perfect. So there is urge in us, which makes us starve towards an immortal, eternal, finite, unlimited and perfect being; can we call it God?

It is not important what you call it, but it matters what you mean it. Based on our experiences of that immortal, eternal, unlimited, finite and perfect being, we name it, God, Supreme Being, intelligent designer etc. When every human efforts fail us, than we depend on this Supreme Being to liberate us from our suffering and pain. I mention only suffering and pain, since these two realities make us abnormal beings and we crave to be normal like most humans.

Philosophically, everything is based on the principle of “Union of Opposites”. It simply means, ‘there is light, there should be something opposite of light, that is darkness.’ ‘Right and wrong ‘,’ good and bad ‘,’ truth and non-truth guide our universe. Hence, logically, when there is mortality, limitedness, imperfection, non-eternality in this world, there should also be an immortal, unlimited, perfect, eternal principle. Can we call it God?

Let me go back to original question; who is God for you? When I ask this question to people of different affiliations towards God, they have myriad answers, by having altogether different concepts in their minds, about this Supreme Being. Some of them could be as follows;

• Ø  An Aspirin God: An aspirin tablet come handy when we are suffering from aches and pains. Likewise, some f the people would go to God when they need Him in their needs, particularly, suffering, difficulties, loneliness, sickness etc. There is an element high dependency on God only to a particular need.
• Ø  A Cop God: God is like a cop waiting to punish us when we err. Hence, we do good in order to escape punishment. This indeed limits my freedom to see God as non-punisher.
• Ø  A shopkeeper God: Some of us relate to God as we relate to a shopkeeper, as you give me this and I pay you this much. Likewise, God you do this favour for me and I will offer prayers, money, service, worship etc. We limit God by testing His ability to grant our desires.
• Ø  A puppeteer God: We are puppets in the hands of God. He is there a master who pulls the strings so that we have the movements. An unmoved mover. He moves us in this world. Hence, an element of final judgement, final goal, final end, predestination sets into our lives. Here we limit God to a merely super power who controls us according to His whims.
• Ø  A Laundry God: We see God as cleanser, who cleanses us from our sins and wrongdoings as we take our soiled clothes to laundry. We limit God to merely an object of our frail human condition.

Hence, we need to ask this question, ‘who is God for me?’ Only you can ask this question and only you can answer this question based on your experience of God.

For me God is love. His love is unconditional and eternal. It is like my mother, who loves me unconditionally. Her love has not conditions and expectations. That love is pure and selfless. There is no resentment, malice, deception, folly but it is kind, patient, without envy, without boast. God’s love is above all this, much more than my own mother. As St. Paul says, three cardinal virtues are, faith, hope and charity (love) and love is greater than all others (1 Cor. 13:13). It is this love, which no object, no wealth or anything can give. It fills the vacuum and loneliness where we our lives are empty. This love boosts us when we are downcast. This love cures us in our sickness. This love makes us see good in others as Jesus said, love your neighbour as you love yourself. Therefore, let us try to have a right concept of God, this will make us follow a right God and as a result makes us act rightly.

Enfeebled Voice of a common person!

Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, “whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” When I browse the national news of the Country, invariably I hear is only one thing, ranting about politics and their each politician’s tactics to prove that one is better than the other. I am not too keen in those matters, despite knowing that it affects each individual in this nation, because we are one nation, one people and one destiny. It seems like two people, two destinies and we two nations; one of the leaders and the other is of the common person like me. We will get nowhere since we are on parallel roads. Hence common person will be silence since he does not want to speak.

In 1968 the women workers on the Ford car plant in Dagenham, Essex, got up from their sewing machines and walked out on strike to make the authorities to recognise their work as skilled and equal to their male colleagues. Women never gave up until their demands were met. This action fanned out across the UK and led ultimately to the introduction of the Equal Pay Act in 1970. Can someone speak up like these women and stop the leaders who invariably tighten their party reputation. It seems like we the common people do not have a say, we are silenced for several years. We elect our leaders to meet our needs, needs of the common person. But in reality, our leaders become powerful and suppress the voice of the common person.

It is always a joy for me to see small groups of young persons taking interest in cleaning up the city, picking up garbage. This shows their interest in the one nation. How many our leaders can come out to the streets to compliment these young groups of people? Of course, they won’t because it won’t affect them, since they drive a luxury car or live in a clean environment. Last week, I saw something beautiful, children from the Rose’s High school painting the wall, which was dirty looking. Now it looks very soothing for the eyes when we walk along the wall. I think we have to look at these good things happening in our city and make it news, so that there is a positive vibe among the young people. One day, they will decide, ‘wow this city is so beautiful, I will work right here.’

My appeal to our leaders and news agencies to please publish more of these good happenings in our country, rather than publishing all the time about our leaders who target each other for their own backyard interests.

JM Dias

Georgetown, Guyana.

This letter was written for Stabroek, Keiteur, and Catholic Standard news papers.