Flow of life is at a mean value of happiness and sorrow. You see the continuous moving line of EKG on the computer screen with minor daily ups and downs in a waveform. It also has big blips upwards and downwards. The story of life is very similar. In general the life moves on at a steady space with minor amplitude of daily ups and downs, around its mean value level. Then there are spikes. Upward spike when we have a great happy occasion. Similarly there is a downward spike when a tragedy happens.

How do we handle these big spikes and keep going steadily? Well when it is happy occasion say a marriage, we have a big ceremony. A big reception, we all get in a party, festive occasion, have Bhangra, exchange gifts and good wishes and from there on we go back to our usual normal routine of life.

Similarly, when we have a tragedy, a death of a young person, we go to memorial services, have kirtan, path, say our condolences, participate in Antam Ardas, and life goes back as usual.

On a National Level also this waveform is evident with occasional big spikes. You watch daily news and every day there are ups and downs in stock market, a normal waveform, but then there are big spikes, such as crashes and new big levels of Dow Jones Index etc.

Big spikes at a National level are like Vietnam War. It was a traumatic event at National Level. For years, it led to internal rife and thus sapping of the national energies. Even after the war was over, this open wound was consistently causing pain. Its pain reduced only after a closure was done in the form of Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. It took too long to bring this closure and it caused lot of national pain. Maybe this pain could have been limited if this Memorial had been erected earlier.

Another national traumatic event like 9/11 sent a huge wave in the psyche of the nation. But then, we had town meetings, offered flowers, held vigils and memorial meetings in churches, gurdwaras, etc. all over the country, raised memorials and then tried to put the national life on course as far as possible. Once the closure is reached, the daily life assumes its pace again.

The worst such case in the 20th century was the Holocaust in WWII. The Jews adopted a slogan, Never Again, and committed 200% to building a Nation. Even in USA, they built the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and probably in many cities, because even Houston has one such Museum. An appropriate closure and look at what they have accomplished by the positive energy released by such closures.

Now, I look at the Sikh Nation. We had the second big National Traumatic Event Operation Blue Star of 1984 and its aftermath in the twentieth century. The First traumatic event of this century was the Partition of India and Punjab in 1947. After 1947, we had a closure in the unfurling of the Indian Flag on August 15, 1947. After that the life again assumed its course. And, look at what Sikhs did. Just in two decades they brought Green Revolution and became the breadbasket of India. And, Punjab was progressing at fastest pace. Even World Report predicted that if Punjab continued at that pace, in two more decades, it would be at US levels. Now I come to the holocaust of 1984. It did double damage. It reopened the wounds of 1947 also. We have not yet found any Closure for this tragedy. Look what has happened. In just these two decades Punjab has slid to number 23 from number 1. And it is sliding down and down with no bottom visible.

This is sapping all our energies and we are losing precious time and opportunities. Punjab was number one state now it is probably the last in India. We have to do a suitable Closure?


Copyright©2003 Jasbir Singh Sethi. About the author