The middle of December saw another innocent young girl fall victim to a gruesome act of cruelty on the streets of our (shamed) Capital.
Now, on a personal level, I would like nothing more than to place the noose around the necks of the depraved offenders myself – not before inflicting unspeakable and comparable torture mind you – but I’m not a proponent of capital punishment. An eye-for-an-eye doesn’t strike me as the best philosophy in the quest for a civil and tolerant society.
What we really need is systemic change. We need to accept that we have a completely ineffectual and corrupt police force. I mean, how can we expect those who themselves can’t distinguish between right from wrong to uphold justice – when self service, not public service, is the only mantra they abide by? The real question is, can public opinion – fuelled by outrage and fury – actually sway political will and cause the kind of resolve that’ll do more than simply result in vote bank politics?
Well, the time to find out is now. 2013 has the potential to shape the kind of society we want to live in. Or the kind of roads we want to drive on. Or even the air that we breathe. So, don’t put your blinkers on just yet – resolve to be the force for some good in the new year. More importantly, resolve to keep your resolve – since it’s likely to be a long road to change. In the meantime, though, don’t forget to put that road to some use, put your troubles behind you, and learn more about the world around you.
Take a road trip, and learn from people – learn from the land. In this issue alone, we’ve gone all the way from Canada to Corbett, and Bihar to Nagaland. Like Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” All biases worthy of dissolution, so that’s reason enough to hit the road – here’s to taking the path less travelled in 2013.
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