Introspecting Aloud

Don't make the wrong resolutions

We will no longer remain passive. We should stand up against terrorism once and for all.

Enough is enough

I say no to getting used to terrorism.

Too many similar resolutions being made by people all around. And my take is that they are all the wrong ones. This incident of unimaginable proportions came about because of our acceptance of medicority everywhere in our country. We are ok with mediocre politicians, mediocre bureaucrats, mediocre sportspeople, mediocre (rather pathetic) standard of education, mediocre(rather pathetic) police and intelligence. The whole country is just a huge celebration of mediocrity. Questioning mediocrity on the other hand is considered the act of a traitor. If a person dies he is a martyr and automatically a hero (like this time). No matter if there is a possibility of incompetency which could have caused the death. Just mere questioning of the circumstances of death can get you lynched. That is the mediocre level of pitiful mediocre nationalism that things have come down to. Instead of terrorism, why can't we instead say no to "mediocrity"? Why can't we stop being passive about the sheer incompetency of the government in every sphere - not just terrorism which is but the flavor of the day? Why don't we ever say "enough is enough. I am tired of being passive about the pitiful state of roads and drainage every year"? Why don't we ever say "I am tired of parochialism and irrelevant issues raised by politicians". Why don't we get angry about the state of our education? Every years, lakhs pass out of schools and colleges, after having spent years studying in a terribly lacking system. But so few of them, resolve that "enough is enough. this is not how school/college should be. it can be better". Security/anti-terrorism measures don't exist in a vacuum. How can we demand excellence from our police and intelligence, when all around them mediocrity is what defines their environment. Whether it is mediocre politicians, mediocre bureaucrats or a  mediocre and unjust work environment. None of all these resolutions is going to make a difference to our internal security. If anything, ham handed security experts and politicians will only make life worse for all of us, and we ,being used to our pathetic existence at their hands will just accept our even more humiliating daily lives - the one which involves more symbolic security checks everywhere and effectively no additional increase in our security. It is clear what we really need to resolve. We should resolve that we should demand excellence from everybody out there - the police, the politician, the bureaucrat ... and even each others and oneself! It is only in such an environment where excellence is but a normal expectation, can our security forces be actually effective. Otherwise all these resolutions are a load of ...