The fallacy of pacifism is aptly described by this episode from our Ancient short story anthology named PANCHATANTRA (The Five Treatise) credited to Vishnu Sharma.
A bird tries to teach compassion and nonviolence to a recalcitrant monkey. It had no effect on the simian. No sooner than the bird reached its vicinity, the defiant monkey grabbed the bird and killed it.
The moral of the story - teach morality to someone who can take it. Endeavoring to do the same to rascals is not only futile, can backfire big time.
Glad India realized late that sermons, friendly visits by leaders to Pakistan was not only meaningless, it also backfired, making our western neighbor more belligerent towards us. Soon it returned in kind by launching some spectacular attacks on our soil. One learns from mistakes. For us, it's always better to be late than never.
History stands testimony to myriads such events. Mahatma Gandhi, whose birthday is incidentally today, wrote a letter to Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II. He tried to dissuade the pugnacious Fuhrer from attacking. Hitler hardly heeded to the protagonist of non violence and went on blitzkrieg through the continent of Europe.
Can't finish my blog without mentioning a related, classic Odia proverb HATA MAJHIRE BRAHMA GYANA - "Sermoning religious edicts inside the Mall". Another example of teaching right things at wrong place can boomerang.
A few of my idealist friends in my Engineering College formed a group called BAPUJI PATHA CHAKRA (Gandhian Study Circle), espousing vegetarianism, zero alcoholic drinks and no "LINE MAARING" (Girl chasing) in Sectors of Rourkela. Don't know how many joined, as those principles were complete anathema to the mainstream Engineering College students.
The idea was either stillborn or ludicrous enough to attract more than half a dozen followers. Never heard about this Gandhian endeavor ever getting a foothold on this arguably one of the top notch Engineering Colleges in Eastern India.
On the other hand, it prevented those internally seeking good things in life from experimenting them. They didn't want to be ridiculed as "Smoking Gandhis" or "Khadi clad Girl chasing Gandhis".
No sooner than they came out of institute, many started their own Gandhian "Experiments with Truths". Not sure if the Bapuji Study Circle survived the Sands of time in the tumultuous milieu of technical life.
A bird tries to teach compassion and nonviolence to a recalcitrant monkey. It had no effect on the simian. No sooner than the bird reached its vicinity, the defiant monkey grabbed the bird and killed it.
The moral of the story - teach morality to someone who can take it. Endeavoring to do the same to rascals is not only futile, can backfire big time.
Glad India realized late that sermons, friendly visits by leaders to Pakistan was not only meaningless, it also backfired, making our western neighbor more belligerent towards us. Soon it returned in kind by launching some spectacular attacks on our soil. One learns from mistakes. For us, it's always better to be late than never.
History stands testimony to myriads such events. Mahatma Gandhi, whose birthday is incidentally today, wrote a letter to Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II. He tried to dissuade the pugnacious Fuhrer from attacking. Hitler hardly heeded to the protagonist of non violence and went on blitzkrieg through the continent of Europe.
Can't finish my blog without mentioning a related, classic Odia proverb HATA MAJHIRE BRAHMA GYANA - "Sermoning religious edicts inside the Mall". Another example of teaching right things at wrong place can boomerang.
A few of my idealist friends in my Engineering College formed a group called BAPUJI PATHA CHAKRA (Gandhian Study Circle), espousing vegetarianism, zero alcoholic drinks and no "LINE MAARING" (Girl chasing) in Sectors of Rourkela. Don't know how many joined, as those principles were complete anathema to the mainstream Engineering College students.
The idea was either stillborn or ludicrous enough to attract more than half a dozen followers. Never heard about this Gandhian endeavor ever getting a foothold on this arguably one of the top notch Engineering Colleges in Eastern India.
On the other hand, it prevented those internally seeking good things in life from experimenting them. They didn't want to be ridiculed as "Smoking Gandhis" or "Khadi clad Girl chasing Gandhis".
No sooner than they came out of institute, many started their own Gandhian "Experiments with Truths". Not sure if the Bapuji Study Circle survived the Sands of time in the tumultuous milieu of technical life.
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