I’ve been thinking about Pakistan’s two December 16s, from 1971 and 2014, both markers of staggering tragedy. One that we would rather forget and not talk about, the other that we vow we will never forget. Obviously, one is a fresher, more recent wound. But it’s also ...>
...obvious why we would rather forget one and remember the other: the first casts us as the villains, the second as innocent victims. If you really think about it though, both were self-inflicted and both were the end result of an inability to learn. Both were the direct ...>
...consequence of short-sighted decisions taken long ago and the belief that ‘we’ have the power to control things and nobody else has the agency to react or turn our manipulations against us. In one case we thought suppression of an entire people was possible forever, in the...>
...other we thought we could limit forces of destruction so that they burnt only our enemies and never turned against us. If there is any lesson to be learnt from these human tragedies, it is this: what we do today is not in a vacuum, that decisions - especially those taken...>
...cynically and with hubris - can have unforeseen repercussions, and that our belief in our abilities of absolute control over others is severely misplaced.
