Courage is not the absence of fear

Courage is not the absence of fear


Tragedy struck our community a few weeks back, as one of our colleauges in a hit and run accident, lost his beloved wife and is now being treated in the hospital along with other injured family members. This incident shook many of us to the core; not able to fathom such a bereavement and loss to one so close to us. A sense of helpless-ness, an inability to even share what we feel..which has sparked a sense of outrage that I personally have never seen before.

People have shown up in troves to help out the family, commiserate, do relays at the hospital to take care of things, spent hours in the hospital lobby fielding media and by standers; spent time chatting with the family and many are doing much more in the background. Friends and batchmates of the victims have created a petition site, facebook group seeking Justice, organized candle light vigils, asked questions of the media and created a lot of pressure on the administration to do something and put who-ever is responsible behind bars. A lot of people have joined this movement even though they do not know the victims? They feel for the cause and want to help out as much as they can.

Seeing 200 people on the streets of Gurgaon, and 25000 + people on our virtual site fighting for justice, makes me feel proud of this community…

But as the case is heating up, and we are In the middle of all this; suddenly I am feeling a sense of apprehension, Am I safe? Will I be targeted? Is it Ok for me to speak to the media? Should I not participate in this movement ? People are beseeching us to be careful and be aware of the ramification/s of what we are doing; not be naive or get carried away in the emotions …I have heard this statement three times in the last two days – “We are tax paying, law abiding, god fearing citizens”, but should that make us strong or weak ?????? ”

What is this fear ? Who am I scared of? What can be the worst?

Does this fear give me a license to stay quiet and hide in the throes of our bouregious existence?

As a tax paying, god fearing, law abiding citizen.. is it not my right to help those who need our assistance at a time of dire need?

Am I excused by just posting on facebook, commenting on the administration and crying out Hulla Bol on my laptop?

Again what is the worst that can happen to me? Die… but dont’t we all have to die some day… I can get killed by some one speeding on NH8, or during a robbery in the middle of the night or because of a lifestyle disease..

And then I realized how many stupid times a day we used the word “I” or “me”. In fact, probably all I ever do was think about myself. And how lame is that when there are millions and billions of people who need our help.

As this quote exemplifies ; Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.

I saw a post this morning ; BMW Accident; pregnant woman; intellectual friends; media and internet outrage – Verdict – BlockBuster ; Maruti 800, man standing on the street, no eye witness – flop show.

My friend…. I understand that for every BMW hit and run, there are probably several cases that bite the dust every day; however I believe, my charity starts with one. Even if we can get Justice in this one case…. we will be better off than not doing anything at all.