There is no creature on earth as authoritarian and self-centered as the human beings. Unfortunately we have come to believe that the human beings are the centre of the universe, and everything is at the behest of them. I am intrigued to think that we have fragmented the world that we received thousands of years ago, and the world is slowly dying, and I wonder if we will be alive to give her a decent burial. We have cut the earth as if it was a birthday cake we would like to share with others, and today in the name of sovereignty and supremacy, we have broken the world into pieces demarcating for ourselves and preventing others to enter into our territory. That I think is the height of human mockery of the unity of the universe. We cannot think of the universe as one, because we are used to seeing ourselves as different from others. What annoys me is the wired-fence that divides this earth into countries and nations, preventing freedom of movement.
If birds of the air enjoy that absolute freedom to move wherever they want, even migrating thousands of miles in order to avoid the bone-chilling cold, or the scorching heat of the sun, why can’t human beings be so; if the fish of the ocean can move from one end to the other, spending a good part if not the whole of her life, why can’t we. If I move from one place to another, clandestinely sneaking through the wire-fence, I am penalized, and put behind bars. When I am born, I am not born as an Indian or Belgian or a Filippino (Pinoy), but I am born as a human being. I am born as part of the human family without any boundaries. But as soon as I see the light of the day, a tag is tied to my wrist that I am an Indian or an American. I carry this tag till I fall into the ground again, and when I am placed inside the womb of mother earth, I go as I had come, without any tag. I die as a human being, without any identity. Then why do I need to entertain the wire-fence.
Who has limited my freedom of movement; the word is in fragments. No one carries with him or her even a square foot of earth. We all of us will die empty-handed; then why is this demarcation? There is fear in some people that if the wire-fence is removed, then there will be a mad-rush to wealthy nations, and soon the riches of the nation will be drained, and the locals and the natives may be deprived of the riches they had been enjoying for centuries. But isn’t that logic first of all based on false and erroneous premises? The wealth of the earth belongs to the humanity, not only to the people of one particular group; the oil of the Gulf does not belong to them, the gold mines of the America do not belong to them; we behave as if we have worked for this. By claiming absolute power and authority over the natural resources, we have brought infamy upon humanity. How can the custodians of oil fields in the Gulf live in palatial buildings, while hundreds of thousands die of hunger and thirst in the African and Asian countries?
I have neither the intelligence nor the means to undertake a novel research to eradicate all wire-fences, so that the wealth that we invest in guarding the boundaries, preventing people of one “nation” trespassing into another land, may be better utilized to improve basic amenities to the downtrodden, and the backward class people. Let no one claim power and authority over the land, which does not belong to any one particular group, even if they are the original settlers of the land. The earth does not belong to anyone, neither to me, nor to you. Let us think of the land as we think of the sun and the moon, and the oceans. Thank God, we have not made demarcations on the ocean, to say that the water till that line belong to us… I would like to be the almighty God for just one minute, or just one second, if that could ever be granted. I have only one wish as the all-powerful God : in a fraction of a second, to uproot all wire-fences, and replace them with flower plants all over. People then will present one another bouquets and flowers, sharing not only what they have, but also what they are.
While we talk about the boundaries that separate us on the basis of the nation and country, there are also other smaller boundaries and limits that we create for our own convenience. Today I would like to pause for a while to think of all the different boundaries I have created for myself, on the basis of my caste, creed, nationality, religion, culture, profession, interests, tastes, color of the skin, language… every time I make a frantic attempt to belong to a particular group, then I am excluding myself from a wider group, or humanity. Our social structures compel me to belong to different social groups, but I am also free to be by myself, so that I enjoy the freedom that I am born with. Today I would like to consciously dissociate myself from all the different groups I am part of, and consciously brief myself as belonging to the community of the universe. As I sit quietly to contemplate this great feeling, let me see in my mind the endless ocean of men and women surrounding me, and I slowly getting dissolved in this limitless ocean. Let me feel the energy flow from one person to another, enriching and ennobling the entire human race. Can I then ever tolerate wire-fences separating me from my own brothers and sisters? (Brussels)
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