LETTER FOURTEEN

Prof. Gyaan,

I’m sorry it’s taken me a while.
A while to come to terms with the news lately. I’m far from steady.
At first, I couldn’t find the words.
When I did, they came out like a rant – angry, confused and a tad bitter.
But the poem in your letter to me (Letter Thirteen) has never been more resonant than at a time like this.
“The End and the Beginning”.
Only, I see the end.
I can’t be sure of the beginning. It’s barely discernable.

I’m feeling a little hopeless for humankind.
And for all the humanity we have been fed or advised to inculcate, how do we deal with barbarians at our doorstep?

We’ve been through this for eons – humanitarian crises.
We live amid them.
We put up with it all.
We compromise the lives and freedom of women.
It’s the easiest choice to make. The easiest trade-off.
For the greater good.

Where is this great good?
And why on earth (if it’s here, that is) is it hiding under a rock?

Here’s a truth that is harder to see:
In a war of men, for men, it’s hard (if not impossible) for the women to ever find peace.

Even so, I agree professor.
There will be an end to this too.
The consequences of evil are unavoidable.
But its collapse is inevitable.

Not because of our better angels or our resolve.
It’s just that the seeds of hatred and malice are by nature self-destructive.

I only hope that someday, when it comes to our values of compassion and solidarity,
No desert shall ever remain barren.

Finding Hope,

X.

The word “men” has been used for two reasons:
1. Generically – To represent people at large and not those specifically belonging to the male gender.
2. Metaphorically – To highlight the consequences on women when they are shoved into situations largely influenced by men.

This piece was conceived and co-authored by Rahul Bhandare, artistic creator of Prof. Gyaan and X and the human repository of ideas on our network.

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