I Am Apolitical. I Choose Humanity First.
I care about people, animals, kindness, fairness and dignity. Call me an advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves - whether they have two legs or four. If labels are necessary, then i am a Humanist.
What unsettles me is not just one issue - it's not only education or governance. It's the growing feeling that we as ordinary citizens have become spectators in our own democracy. Our voices are no longer part of the conversation - they are simply background noise. The feeling is painful.
Watching Sonam Wangchuk undertake a fast for what he believes is right has brought that pain into sharp focus. Here's a man willing to put his own life on the line for a cause he believes affects students who are the future of this country. That kind of conviction deserves to be heard. At the very least, it deserves engagement.
What troubles me is the indifference. Indifference is perhaps the most violent form of silence. Anger / Debate / Disagreement - all of these acknowledge your existence. But indifference simply tells you, that you don't matter.
That is the silence i find hardest to accept. And it isn't only the silence of those in power. It's the silence of much of our media - be it mainstream or entertainment. It's the silence of those influential voices who tell us what deserves our outrage vis-a-vis our applause.
Millions of us first encountered his brilliance through 3 Idiots. We laughed, cried, quoted dialogues and applauded the message. We turned the film into part of our cultural fabric. But today when the man is fasting, where are the voices? We celebrated his story. But those are the same strangely absent for current his-story.
Not saying that every influential voice should share the same opinion but there is a difference between choosing a side and choosing to care. There is a difference between political allegiance and human empathy. Some moments and times rise above ideology.
Democracy is more than elections. It is the relationship between us and those we entrust to govern. It depends on dialogue, accountability and the belief that every voice has a value - even the ones that disagree with us. The feeling that listening itself, once considered a virtue, is gradually going extinct.
I write this as someone who believes empathy shouldn't be partisan. Government, policies, leaders - all will have their fair share of successes and failures. But compassion should remain constant. The day we stop feeling another person's pain, we stop being a society. We become a populace sharing geography.
Humanity isn't seasonal.
Compassion isn't selective.
Silence, in the face of another's suffering, is not neutrality. It is a choice.
And today, I choose not to make it.
