As it was once mentioned by one of the foremost minds in theoretical physics of the past century, Richard P. Feynman: ‘Science is just a key for every man to the gates of heaven, but the same key can also open the gates of hell’! Nothing else could be truer…
Just for instance, as we all know harnessing nuclear power in reactors can be a boon as a sustainable energy resource, but use it to create weapons of mass destruction and the horrors become instantly apparent. Think of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War-II, where about a quarter of a million people were wiped out in two fell swoops, the majority of whom were innocent civilians. Genetic malformations are observed to this date in the descendants of the survivors of the cruel attack! Besides, excessive nuclear tests have a massive detrimental impact on the ecosystem and the environment, creating temperatures equivalent to the Sun’s surface for a few seconds here on mother Earth. Are we not concerned about harming the very things that help sustain life on our precious planet? So much for a term as casual as ‘collateral damage’…
But, this is not just about nuclear power… In our day to day lives, would we the common folk, stand even a remote chance if let’s say, a sniper or someone with any decent long range fire-arm, were to target us while climbing into our vehicles or simply strolling down the street? Think about it for a second… Earlier in the age of sticks and stones there was at least a possibility to defend oneself, but now it appears to be more luck than anything else, especially with relaxed gun laws in quite a handful of countries, leading to increasing incidents of shootings in schools, subways and other public places. The sheer fragility of life like a bone china dish, haunts me to the extent that I have developed a rather unique addiction for keeping busy all the time, not knowing the paucity of time the future holds. Have we become too advanced for our own good?
Diplomatic allegiances aside, today as Russia wages war against Ukraine without any clear perpetration of violence or territorial infiltration by the latter, with Soviet tanks running over Ukrainian civilian cars and much more, what power does a regular person have in the face of such adversity? The very reason the United Nations was formed after two consecutive world wars was to prevent an occurrence approaching such magnitude of loss, but we see history repeating itself exposing these organizations as hollow rubber stamps just to appease some of the super powers of the world. Any vote against one of these super powers would simply be vetoed by that nation. Isn’t it obvious?! It seems Nazi captive Anne Frank’s chilling quote that the strong live and the weak die, still stands in the present modern era.
In any case, I think evidence is aplenty that at the end of the day there is no substitute to strength, from the might of a country right down to that of an individual. No wonder so many Indians have tremendous respect for our martyred freedom fighters, like the trio of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Udham Singh and countless others, who were ready to go the distance to achieve their goals, unlike certain others whose methods were akin to emotional blackmail and long term political propaganda. These revolutionaries laid the foundation stone for our country to be as independent and strong as it is today, and the least they deserve is a humble salute from each and every citizen of this prosperous nation.
