SABARI GANESH

One’s revolution is a crime for others.

Imagine a bullet with piercing the heart of a six year old girl who dreamt bigger in life. With a single bullet her life as well as her aspirations and dreams vanish in a second.

The exponential rise of ISIS in the middle east which is spreading panic across the world looks as a revolution from their perspective. But it is terrorism when we look through an American lens. The crusade they are involved in has started a debate on who is responsible for their dramatic rise and who should bear the dire consequences if they seize power completely in Iraq and Syria.

The radicalization of Islamic youth, beheadings and massacre of innocent civilians as well as brave journalists are some of the gory outcomes of their war.
Who is responsible for this and which country should be accountable? The influence a religion exerts on an individual during their adolescence might impact the behaviour of a person either positively or negatively. The path he chooses might seem correct to him but he will be accused of promoting terrorism. The way a belief is pursued in the society differs drastically across the world.

For example, a guerrilla war in Colombia was pursued by CIA as human rights violation but a staunch communist sees it as a concerted effort for the welfare of their people from the clutches of the crony capitalist foreign policy.

Several people die in a war. They say that their heroic death is for the welfare of the nation. But for centuries, thousands are dying in numerous wars. A war might not be a solution. Imagine what would have happened if Mahatma Gandhi followed a guerrilla war path for India’s Independence. How many innocent deaths it would have resulted? Would there be any democracy in India? And what kind of development would we have witnessed now if that was the case?

Islam teaches many good things. They have a structured religion. Unfortunately it is misinterpreted by most of us. ISIS is the result of misinterpretation of a holy teachings.

Karl Marx developed the concept of Communism. Several communists were inspired by him. It created a revolution across the Europe in 17th century. Political and economic impact stormed the European society in coming centuries. But when the communist policies were misinterpreted and practiced in an undemocratic manner, it resulted in the dissolution if USSR.

In this era of globalization, where people are leading a fast paced life, religion always comes into the picture to control us. Religion was created to control us from forgetting the humanity and compromising human values. Every religion preaches variety of things in different ways but its ultimate aim is to spread peace and prosperity in the society. Misinterpreting and misguiding will definitely lead to unfavourable consequences which would impact the future generations. There should not be a moment where our grandchildren would curse us for all the mistakes done by us.