The Result of Frustration: Good Friday

W.J.Pais Food for Thought - Tragedies of our Time
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As one looks back on one's life, especially, if one has grown old and observed what has been happening from his childhood, trying to figure out all the causes of the effects he has seen play before him, one wonders why all those revolts, rebellions, and wars were all for.

As for me my observations can be said to have started from 1940 but before that my parents and grandparents have seen what had happened and as they were educated enough to read papers and kept abreast of the laws that were being enacted, so much so, my maternal grandfather was instrumental in establishing a bank, and Provident Fund Institution and other community benefiting  associations, in the 1920s and later.   Among our relatives, there were Officers of the Indian Civil Service and were conversant with the Judiciary and its norms.

It is an unintended corollary, of Queen Victoria's decision replace the East India Company and to appoint a Vice Roy, and establish home rule for Indians, in order to getting them involved in the Indian Civil Service, for which they had to go to London, to get trained and get their certificates which opened a way for the intellectual Indians who went abroad to join the ICS cadre, to familiarize themselves with the Administrative System of the British, and thus got prepared to take over the burden of administering this vast nation when their time came in 1947.

Gandhi and Nehru were among them.   The current leadership was not born.   The Hindu Mahasabha, the parent body of the present leadership had decided to keep away from them who took the initiative to negotiate for India's freedom, and were incarcerated often, whom they considered as "hot heads" and so lost an opportunity which they have now grabbed after nearly seventy years after these "hot heads" took over the management of the nation.   The present day antagonism towards those "hot heads" may be a result of this frustration of lost chances.   No doubt that the present leadership is conversant with the Machiavellian principles of leadership. 

The ordinary people in the fields, and town markets were left clueless, due to the lack of education, and familiarity with the English language.   In 1950 with the Agrarian Reform Act of the "Land to the Tiller" land owners had to give up their titles in favor of the farmers, who tilled their lands, and thus opened their opportunity to send their kids to schools and ultimately these forgotten sections of our society, got into politics, and we have witnessed the result of this resurgence. 

This antagonism of the human being to fight the tide of change which engulfs them, is not something new.   In the Roman Times, the Jews wanted Jesus Christ to side with them and take over the land, from the Romans, but he told them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's"  They did not understand, why he said it.   It took 300 years for the Romans to crush this budding faith in Christ, but eventually, one of their own, turned the tables, and it was Constantine the emperor, who changed the law, and made Christianity the State Religion.

At that time, the lands east of the Mediterranean Sea were in the grip of the Roman empire, and the east was governed from Constantinople, in the present day Turkey.   This eastern wing of the Roman empire, had under them, all the territories of the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula and the North of Africa.   Jews and Arabs had resented this foreign rule for a long time.

In 680 AD, Prophet Mohammed began his ministry and a new interpretation of the Jewish and Christian beliefs was synthesized in Islam, a community of prayer.   Many joined him, and after his death, the reigns of rule, went to the Caliphs, who had political goals to get rid of the Byzantine rule, and this led to proselytization, and the rule of Zakat a law of taxation, which forced all those who did not belong to this faith, to pay a tax and to avoid it many lukewarm Christians and pagans, changed over to the ruling side, as they do in the current times as well, for some pecuniary benefit, or a promise to the piece of the cake of power.   It was this trend that caused  large portions of Palestine, Syria, North Africa and Mesopotamia where Christian belief had taken root, to opt to Islam.   

There were wars in the north of the Middle East, with the Byzantine rulers, and they finally had to give up, and Jerusalem came under the rule of Islamic administrators.

This tug of war, brought about the Crusades, and the rivalry between the Christians and the Muslims, which has lasted to this present day, giving them the impression of "War mongers" even though there had been a chasm in the Christian world, due to the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century.    This constant rivalry, had given rise to lot of political machinations on either side.    Ultimately the Eastern Roman Empire fell to the hands of the Islamic Rulers, and matured into Ottoman Empire, which ruled over the oil rich lands of the Arabs, which the West eyed greedily.  

When the moneyed Jews who wanted to regain Palestine from where they were expelled in AD 70 by the Romans, they colluded with the Western Kings  and fought the first world war, in which Ottoman Empire was defeated, and England and France took over the oil rich lands, and divided them according to their convenience to control and exploit.   This was the beginning of the Islamic frustration.

Germany who sided with the Ottomans, too had to abdicate and surrender and it was at this time, Western politicians under the League of Nations, decided to drop monarchy and replace it with democracy, which was partially practiced in England and the US, where women did not have the voting power, and neither landless peasants had it, but for the defeated Germans, they made it "one man, one vote" and the rich funded the "Representatives of the People" which is the norm of democracy till this day, and that is why the poor people of these lands can never gain power from the rich.  The Germans were forced to pay reparations to England and France, which led to Hitler's take over, and the second world war.   The great depression in the United States, when money was siphoned from the banks and moved out to other banks.  The poor Americans were clueless then, and so are they now, as to where their money disappeared.   America became the "Make in America" for the war effort in Europe which gave them new financial clout.   There was a migration of technical knowhow from Europe to America and to know of its effects, one has to go through the encyclopedias that are freely available on the Internet.

The first world war took place at the beginning of the 20th century, and Indians were co-opted in the war effort, and many died out side of India.   My wife's grandfather was one who died in Mesopotamia in 1922.   I was born and was 5 years old when the 2nd World War started, and was blissfully unaware of the situation, except that at night, we did not have anything to eat, as the rations were not enough, so my older sisters used to sing songs to put us to sleep, and when we had gone to sleep, they would put back the plates and the cutlery back on the shelves.

This war crippled England, and the power went to the Labor Party when the British Parliament decided to give in to Indian demands for independence.   Before that they manipulated the rivalries in the Sub Continent, and decided to divide the country, keeping the Bolan and Khyber passes on the north in one sector, and giving it to the weaker part, that was Pakistan, and the entry to Bay of Bengal, was divided from the erstwhile province of Bengal, and the Eastern Wing of Pakistan was created.   Till today, no one knows, why the US and Britain have a special interest in Pakistan.  It has to be geopolitical.

Cyril Radcliffe a British civil servant, who had not seen India before, was sent for 35 days to produce the partition maps, which were ready on 17th August 1947 according to Wikipedia.  On 14th and 15th the two sides representing India and Pakistan had to sign the deed of Independence, as they had no options left to them.    Since Hindu Mahasabha was not involved in these talks they were full of frustrations, and felt cheated.

Now the oil fields of Arabia had split the Arabs, and the Indians had been split in their anguish to get out of this cauldron.   The Islamic frustration has morphed into ISIS  and the Hindu frustration got expression in the promoters of the RSS.   

Frustration leads to indiscriminate assaults on liberty and confusion.    In past history, it has always been known when two cats fight, a fox stands by to wait to pounce on the prey.  Though cool headed decisions are the right thing, it is almost impossible to the protagonists of the new game to tame the beast, once it is left out of the cage.   

The West too is frustrated, as they see the possibility of the wealth reverting to the Arabs, so they brand them as "hate mongering" people and create rifts in their ranks, and the same things is noted in this Sub Continent.   Perhaps, better days could dawn on this World, after people of my age depart from it.   My one request to the young people is not to brand everyone with the same brush, but take time, to examine the causes and effects, as good physicists do.  Try to douse the fires of hatred, and plant love in its place.   Basically, the majority do not have a grouse against their neighbors, but with mob fury raging around them , they prefer not to get involved.   This also reminds us that 2000 years ago, it was the mobs who made Pilate the Roman Procurator sanction the death of Jesus on the Cross.   Christians will commemorate his death on Good Friday, which falls on the Friday 25th March 2016.

HOLY WEEK

A request to you.  If due to my weak eyesight, I have included some wrong images, I    apologize.

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Good Friday, a Meditation.

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Abrahamn's Test

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Under captivity of Babylonians God sent Prophet Baruch

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EASTER SUNDAY

Holy Mass with Music and Readings

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