[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]F[/FONT]ROM the ashes of a terrible tragedy has risen a more positive generation. As a success story, there are few that can match up. There are scars, nightmares, justice denied, but at the end of two decades, a moral victory.
It is now exactly 20 years since what is commonly called the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. An unemotional term swathed in red-tape and apathy. Because behind the terse description is an event that shook the roots of a community.
In all these years, have the Sikhs asked for more than their share of justice? The men who assassinated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi have been hanged long since. Has anyone been hung for the gruesome murders of Sikhs that began on the night she died? Who does a father go to seek sanity for his son, who has grown retarded because of what happend in November 1984?
These are unanswered questions and will perhaps remain unanswered for some time. So the Sikh community has found some answers on its own, drawn from centuries of struggle and the simple realisation that they live in a civilised world. And that in such a world, no violence is justifiable.
So while the struggle for justice continues, the community has refused to be overcome by one event. It has moved on to find its peace.
It is a fact that people of their religion were attacked and killed. In another era, weapons would have been used to get justice. This time, even before the embers of 1984 died out, the community had chosen to use logic as its main weapon. They realised that to be a successful member of society you need to adapt. They found that and it has stood them in good stead these difficult two decades.
It's all about what you chose to build. When a community starts building up a defence mechanism it automatically creates known and unknown enemies. But when it arms itself with a positive attitude and rebuilds itself from and beyond the debris, it creates a space for itself. A bigger and better space than ever existed. That is the Sikh community then. Not a ghetto that an injured minority huddles into usually, but a robust part of the mainstream again.
This lesson was learnt by not only an individual, but an entire community together. Each Sikh has contributed to this positive attitude. And that is why they are winning, not whining.
[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]While the struggle for justice continues, the community has moved on to find its peace.[/FONT]
In all these years, have the Sikhs asked for more than their share of justice? The men who assassinated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi have been hanged long since. Has anyone been hung for the gruesome murders of Sikhs that began on the night she died? Who does a father go to seek sanity for his son, who has grown retarded because of what happend in November 1984?
These are unanswered questions and will perhaps remain unanswered for some time. So the Sikh community has found some answers on its own, drawn from centuries of struggle and the simple realisation that they live in a civilised world. And that in such a world, no violence is justifiable.
So while the struggle for justice continues, the community has refused to be overcome by one event. It has moved on to find its peace.
It is a fact that people of their religion were attacked and killed. In another era, weapons would have been used to get justice. This time, even before the embers of 1984 died out, the community had chosen to use logic as its main weapon. They realised that to be a successful member of society you need to adapt. They found that and it has stood them in good stead these difficult two decades.
It's all about what you chose to build. When a community starts building up a defence mechanism it automatically creates known and unknown enemies. But when it arms itself with a positive attitude and rebuilds itself from and beyond the debris, it creates a space for itself. A bigger and better space than ever existed. That is the Sikh community then. Not a ghetto that an injured minority huddles into usually, but a robust part of the mainstream again.
This lesson was learnt by not only an individual, but an entire community together. Each Sikh has contributed to this positive attitude. And that is why they are winning, not whining.
