The Hero Protecting Our Colony Was Forgotten & the Colony’s Wastrel Cacophony Took Over!
We don’t know how to honour our heroes. Consider snippets that we see occasionally about US war veterans, being honoured when entering an airplane, or while returning to their hometown, or just walking down a street. None would ever ask about their role in actual combat, the honour and adulation heaped upon them was unconditional.
Closer home, it’s about guttersnipes and heroes. Given half a chance, roles quickly get reversed given the zeitgeist (mood) of the current times, the guttersnipes get the honour and the hero’s vilified. For instance, the narratives are quickly changed, the perpetrators of crime released from prison on parole to pursue their murky agenda, (Ram Rahim of Dera Sucha Sauda) murders pardoned and prison sentences commuted, (Bilkis Bano family murders) assassinator feted and garlanded (six life convicts of PM Rajiv Gandhi), the list is endless. The guttersnipes become the heroes and the wronged fade into insignificance.
We would have thought our Def Col to be different. Built by ‘a chest full of medals officers’ of the defence forces, we would expect heroes from any walk of life would receive applause and adulation, respect and unconditional support for any action or deed performed beyond the call of duty. Indeed, once upon a time, this was Def Col, righteous officers from whom there were never shades of grey between black and white. However, the ‘medals generation’ have passed, leaving their progeny property worthy of zamindars, spawning a generation of rent seeker idlers and armchair moralizers for whom the shades of grey are more their style.
Specifically, I’m drawn to an incident on Saturday. A hero of our Colony was assaulted while performing his duty by a guttersnipe loitering in the colony under the guise of walking a pet dog, but essentially a vagrant. The assault should have drawn the collective colony rage against the guttersnipe that our hero, our colony hero, had being assaulted by a guttersnipe. Instead, the zamindar generation, the inheritors of high value Def Col property, promptly changed the narrative on social media. A few faux as imitation fur animal spokespersons, jumped into social media berating in an almost maniacal way not to make it a dog versus man issue, while others related incidents how they/associates had been bitten by a dog.
Quickly, the hero protecting our Colony turf was forgotten, while the colony’s wastrel cacophony took over.
Meanwhile, the organization that our hero was doing a commendable voluntary service doodled, saying it was Saturday, their office was closed, they’d debate the issue on Monday. Others clucked their tongues muttering under their breath ‘very bad’ proceeded to pink gins, bloody Mary’s interspaced with chicken tikka masala. Meanwhile, the owner of the animal called for a ‘constructive debate’ and further diverted the attention away from the real incident. The conversation lost focus entirely that one of us, a Def Col resident, had been assaulted by a guttersnipe. With no imminent action, the walker brazenly continued to roam free pursing his brand of vagrancy. The arm chair brigade moved on to next masala tit bit on social media, the hero left to fend for himself medically and emotionally.
The guttersnipes just began to wear the medals. The narrative changed, if you want to be a hero, you’ve got to carry the risk.
We have emerged as a generation of self-seekers, with no moral postures. We are a generation ‘If it’s not in my backyard, it’s not my problem’. Is this the inheritance we carry from the ‘medal generation’, our role models who we should emulate in righteousness. Is this the way we support our heroes performing beyond the call of duty.
We are on the road to perdition, for he who cannot see God in man, is doomed to eternal damnation. Collectively. As we are.
