Appeal for Restraint

 

We are witnessing a disaster in India, but the predominant theme in my social media feed is not empathy, but political sniping.  All that people seem to think of is to score political points, and/or stop the other side from scoring those points.

There are a few people use their connections to help people find hospitals, oxygen or ventilators. God bless them! For every such person, there are several who share messages assigning  or deflecting blame.

Guys, there will be a time for postmortem, recriminations or even celebrations, but this is not it. The next few weeks may be even tougher than the last one. It does not matter if the fault was with the central government, state government or the evil cat next door. If you participate in repeating or rebutting messages of blame, you are putting your leaders in a position where they have to waste their time defending against the charge.  Our best hope now is that the current governments - state, central and local - succeed in what they do over the next weeks and months. They have to succeed, regardless of who got us into this mess. This is like the time Cersei Lannister and Denarys Targarian had to fight together against the Night King, the bigger enemy. Political differences can wait.

I am no fan of the politicians here where I live - John Tory, the Mayor of Toronto, Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario and Justin Trudeau the prime minister of Canada. They all have plenty to be modest about, their own acts of commission and omission, and their political differences. However, it is hard not to notice they read from the same script. They mention each other by name in public messages. They acknowledge talking to each other. There has been some back and forth on resource allocation, but they spend way more time talking about addressing the situation. They will be at each other's throat in the near future, but there is a truce for now, while they battle a common enemy. Ford, my least favorite politician, even apologized to the public over the missteps. It is hard not develop a grudging liking for the man.

It is perhaps too much to expect that from the Indian leaders, but the least we can do is to not vitiate the environment. Suspend the blame games a bit. Read and listen and remember how you feel. You can expend your energies when you vote next.

Meanwhile, no need to remind the rest of us of your political leanings 500 times a day. Lead, help, or stand out of the way without amplifying the noise! Thank you!

Share the message as appropriate. Paraphrase as needed. Thanks!