and God made us all

This morning, while on the regular commute to work by the suburban rail, a stray dog entered the compartment. The excitement was immediate and perceivable because it was after all a break from the routine commute. Newspapers were put away, the cellphone ring was ignored and fingers stopped counting the rosary beads. The dog made itself comfortable and sat down at a corner near the door, a place usually occupied by the street urchins, women vendors etc. For a short while, there was shared laughter and a few brave souls began to pet the dog while the rest watched indulgently. After a couple of minutes, a young student opened her lunchbox and fed the dog a chapati. Out came other sundry food stuff and by the time this writer got down (about 20mins after the dog entered), the dog had been offered a biscuit, a sandwich, more chapatis, some rice and vegetable. Did not really notice whether the dog ate it all.

Through all the excitement the animal caused, one could'nt help wondering about what would have happened if an urchin or a eunuch or a poor woman with babies in tow had entered the compartment. The treatment meted out to them would have been far from welcoming. They would have been shooed, asked to get down, threatened with a police complaint, and the camarederie one experienced amongst the commuters in the first instance would have taken a different turn with us grumbling about "These people don't understand. They get in and they have nothing to do except have kids". It is almost as if 'these people' don't matter and are not people at all. Most of us are guilty of displaying this attitude at sometime or the other.

What do we do about it? Nothing actually except turn defensive when accused. But if we truly want to make a difference, then we need to treat all with courtsey and accord to all the respect we wish to be given. Granted the ticketless traveller or a free-loader can be an irritant but by treating him/ her like an inanimate object, we are negating his/ her very humanity. Each one of us is equal in the eyes of God. It should not be too difficult for an aetheist to accept that we are all human beings and that by itself makes us all equal.

The JGW is about equality and according dignity to all. Raising resources is of no use if unaccompanied with graciousness. To raise the JGW this year to a higher plane, let us make it a point to treat all with courtsey and believe that "all of us are born equal in dignity and rights." If the JGW can transfer a message that all of us are equally worthy, and if this message is absorbed by many, then the change towards a more egalitarian society has begun. Let us begin to work on this change, today and now.