RIP Soldiers !!

Few years back, a martyred army officer's daughter, Gurmehar Kaur, wrote, 

"Pakistan did not kill my Dad, War did." in the social media. Quite predictably, it was bombarded with tonnes of abuse and memes. BUT, in my view, she is damn right !!

When I heard about soldiers dying on the Indo-China border, I wrote, "RIP Soldiers - Chinese and Indians."

For me, due to some crazy politicians, some brain-washed young souls had to give up their lives. A nation maintains military and recruits these young men and women and costly defense hardware because it perceives an enemy. If all enemies can be eliminated, there is no need to maintain a costly military. It is like a medicine for an illness like obesity, that can be avoided in the first place.

How to eliminate 'enemy'! Many people might say, one is in delusion if one says, 'enemy' is just a concept we create in our mind. It actually does not exist. It's only the 'difference in perspective' that gives the illusion of enmity. Many wars were fought for this illusion or rather taking advantage of or pretext of this illusion. Better, remove the 'difference', the enemy showing red-eye at you will disappear in the thin air.

Here, I am not talking about rivalry or competition. These are real, required, and healthy. 

I am talking about the nail-teeth fighting enemy. Humans killing humans. Humans glorifying killing other humans in name of fighting for a country. Seeing or hearing about wars and war-mongering so-called nationalism, what comes to my mind is some mindless zombies, maybe worst than the cannibalistic frogs. 

When one departs from this realm of existence, we say 'Rest In Peace' or RIP. It has some deep meaning. It's beyond the scope of consciousness. Nobody knows if something called a soul exists or what happens next. At least science is silent about it. No matter if someone is your friend or foe, we are friends and foes only in this mortal realm. Beyond, we are just the elements - all are the same.

 

We are all the same in this realm as well. You just need to think wider but deeper. You gain these types of perspectives when you probably get the scope to interact with people from different backgrounds. 'Nationalism' for which nations go to war, becomes a faded concept when you work or live in a multi-cultural environment, when you talk, work, eat, sit on a daily basis with people from different countries and work for a common goal. You realize everyone has the same red blood, has the same emotions and compassion as an ordinary human - no matter how someone talks, what they eat, what they believe, or what nationality or race they belong to.

I always argue any conflict is due to a combination of various factors. One big factor is a misunderstanding. With respect to the recent Indo-China conflict, based on the information I exposed myself to, I understand this is due to misinterpretation of the actual line of control (LOC). Due to lack of clarity, some Indian and Chinese young men had to needlessly die. I again say, RIP-Soldiers - both Indians and Chinese !!