“Persecution” embodies vision and the vision brings the ultimate change

Persecution is a sad fact in our world. It leaves us traumatized with imperishable impact on our lives. Furthermore, it widens the gap between human beings and give rise to hatred, sectarianism and disunity.

The more we want to spread love, freedom and unity the less we witness it within our communities and neighborhoods.

However, persecution can also be way of vision.

It can revolutionize the masses and can be a foundation for a much needed change. However, a persecution is fraught with challenges and fears unimaginable.

Persecution carries a history as old as a human life. The difference between the centuries old and present persecution is the advancement of the knowledge and science.

In between the old and new age, lies the “persecution”- unchanged in its very being.

The modern man considers himself “more powerful and more knowledgeable than our previous mates. And knowledgeable as we are, however, in theory we do not carry much difference apart from the fact that we now use smart phones, drive high tech cars, plan to spend holidays on the moon and wish to witness “Armageddon” snuggled in our underground flats through the powerful cameras. Our attitudes towards our fellow beings are still the same.

We hear on the TVs and read from our kindles and newspapers about the countless deaths of people being persecuted. Out of faith, religion, race, and creed some of them die the death of thousands cuts. Some are looted, bombed, raped and imprisoned. Some of them wait for their death angels to relieve them from the traumas of the fellow prisoners and their daily deaths at the expense of the jail authorities. They are mocked, ridiculed day in and day out.

The changeless, strong and stubborn attitude which we exhibit to something which is alien, foreign and uncommon is an enigma which modern man has no time to solve. Waging a war against the weaker fellow beings it is the easy solution – which we all choose.

We all love to opt for easy solutions, do we not?

In the midst of worlds crisis, hostages in Algeria, political mayhem in Middle East and South Asia, Islamist waging war on Christians, Jews killing Muslims – to name just a few horrors of our modern world – we do not want to be burdened with less easy solutions.

There are more bullets in our world than people; around 12 Billion bullets are produced every year which means there are at least almost twice as much bullets than people on our planet. Our children live and play under the shadows of guns and bullets.

According to Amnesty International, around 15,000 people are killed every day in direct violence and armed conflicts of various sorts every day in our world.

Is there any day in our lives we do not hear about conflicts, bombing and killing?

26 million people are forced to flee their countries of their origin and live under extreme condition in a hope to live a life.

The point of persecution is that either it makes you bitter or either you learn a lesson to bring a change in our world. The latter is a rare option since the trauma of being persecuted is unimaginable.

Very often I observed, that some people have no clear idea what persecution is unless they go through that horrible experience themselves . However, ask Nadia Eweida, Celestina Mba, Yousaf Nadarkani or the recently acquitted Pakistani Christian girl, Rimsha Masih. who were or are still going through religious persecution . Their hair-raising experiences can open up a new different world to us. And there are others who are still suffering persecution across the world.

Some of these persecuted people hanker for the change. They want to infuse the people against the inhuman, degrading attitude they have experienced and yearn for the change so other may not suffer like they did. The seeds of persecution can be a way of learning, knowledge, and to bring about a good change in our communities, societies and the war-torn world we all breathe in.

Persecution embodies vision. The vision to save others. The vision to deliver hope and life to others. Vision encourages us to hope, when hopes does not exist. It can prompt us to give voice where people die voiceless and to reach out where no one can reach.

The vision which says, “I can go to any extent to bring a change”.

I remember talking to few members of a persecuted community in Pakistan in 2009 who told me about their “Changed lives” after they were attacked by an Islamist group which burnt seven Christians  and set ablaze the whole Christian village on fire by throwing chemical on their houses  in the Gojra and Korian Tragedy in Punjab Pakistan.

“We want to change the world” said an 11 year old girl while I was talking with the villagers after the tragic incident rocked their world.

Years have gone by ever since I heard these bold, brave words from a little, uneducated girl in Pakistan.

She surely changed my life there and then and taught me a lesson I could not have learnt in the best universities in the world.