The Sins Of Our Fathers

 

Am I my brother’s keeper? I’m not. If I don’t even have to be my brother’s keeper, why should I have to live in a constant state of guilt for my forefathers’ sins? Biblically, the sins of the fathers are supposed to pass down to the third and fourth generation. Look around the world today and you’ll find that the shadow cast by past sins or perceived sins is much, much longer than that.

In almost every country, there are people who bear a historical grouse – about oppression, suppression, cruelty against their forefathers. Through generations, this ferments inside till suddenly there’s a venting and all hell breaks loose. Just one little seemingly innocuous incident is enough to be the flashpoint for a blaze of emotions that can very well end in carnage.

The trouble is, there seem to be no answers in sight and maybe the time has come for both sides to sit down and let it go. It’s hard to let go of a cross your forbears bore which has been handed down with the unspoken urge to carry it on. It’s hard to let go of anger that very often you were born with. It’s hard to root out a crutch that makes you feel that all your present problems are due to something that happened generations, maybe even centuries ago.

I read a hub the other day and it touched me because it reflected the angst and pain of a group pf people. We have a similar situation in our country – only it isn’t colour but caste that is the issue. I asked myself if I really wanted to apologize for what my ancestors did and the answer is NO. Or rather, the answer would be No if I were expected to. I might do it if I were moved to but I know that the compassion that maybe I should feel would vanish in a trice if I were MADE to apologise.

Because I wasn’t there. And the person who feels the pain passed down wasn’t there either.

So what is the solution? If there is a solution. Will this impasse just get worse? It will when there are tremors in other areas. The prospect of depression, the prospect of jobs being lost, the prospect of prices rising. In times of trouble, it isn’t Mother Mary who comes to you but the spectres of times gone by, raising their ugly heads. It rarely happens in times of plenty. It almost never happens when a country is threatened from outside – an outside enemy usually makes everyone come together. It happens, like I said, in troubled times within.

The solution as I see it has to be at the grassroots or the community level. If one were to look at our politicians to fulfil this role, you couldn’t be farther from a viable solution. Politicians tend to divide and rule – that’s the way they stay in power. The only way to get people to sit together is to educate and to spread awareness. Here’s where local leaders will have to rise up for the common good.

The ideal way to get there would be a 3-point programme.

- Acknowledge

- Accept

- Address

One has to acknowledge that there were inequalities and acts of oppression and cruelty. One has to then see how that has affected the present. Once you accept it as being the cause of certain effects that are detrimental to the functioning of society and maybe even a country, it is easier to see things objectively. The next step is how to address these ills practically, logically, rationally and unemotionally.

When you don’t HAVE to feel sorry, you’ll find the barriers breaking down and the possibility of bridges being built. You’ll find the walls of political correctness crumbling and a sense of humour coming to the fore. In the old days – well actually not so long ago – comedy meant catharsis. We saw ourselves on stage or onscreen and we laughed. Today, we see any kind of humour against ourselves as personal and we’re quick to take offence. All it does is make the chasms between groups even wider. Laughing at ourselves and at others is the only way to bridge the gap. If only we learned to laugh at ourselves, we will stop feeling so sat upon and spat upon.

It has to be a concerted affair – everywhere, at all levels. The American forthcoming elections have highlighted the latent racial tensions but it’s there alright - the danger beneath. As it is all over the world in different forms. South Africa, India, the UK, Sri Lanka. It’s the same story whether it’s played out by the factions of different creeds, races, colour, caste or class. In most cases, the flames of hatred are kept alive to keep certain people in power. We need to get over this without any political interference. In the age of the Internet when a whole mass of humanity has been powered with connectivity at the click of a mouse and there’s a wave of globalisation sweeping over the world, it’s time we shook off the politics of prejudice, the acid of internalized hatred, the shackles of the past and the fear of the different. It’s a long haul but we can do it if we try and who knows - Lennon’s legendary song might well come to pass. Imagine all the people sharing all the world……..