The illusion of reality.

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one” ~ Albert Einstein.

Are you literate? Well, if you’re reading this, of course you are. But are you educated? That’s a different ball game altogether now.

Are you a thinker? Or do you hoard information from all possible sources but don’t form an opinion from scratch?

Do you believe everything you come across on the internet? Or do you try to verify the sources before you share anything with others?

So, a friend does not scroll through Facebook each day. But when she does, she comes across something like this.

Probably that is why she doesn’t scroll through Facebook every day.

Now you may just read this, make a joke or two, and toss it out of the window. And that is where the fault lies. Where we don’t really pay attention to the negativity that is seeping into us each moment, each hour, each day through posts like these. Each day, you might not have changed but at the end of a lot of days, well, you’ve changed enough to not be able to turn back!

India and Pakistan have been at war for more than six decades now. A cold, silent, unrelenting war which has affected us all so badly that it is unimaginable how we ever lived together peacefully. And, for however far my sight stretches, I don’t see this getting resolved soon – for reasons as apolitical as political. But this? It doesn’t even make sense.

Yes, Pakistan is known to be involved with terrorism. And the country’s government has made a fair amount of hullabaloo trying to deny things so plain and simple that the whole world can see through their lies now. But why on Earth would you define all Pakistanis as terrorists? And all Indians as hardworking, entrepreneurial, and diligent people? I know we have a fair share of Indians, who if born in the Middle Ages were worthy of being guillotined. (And before you start hating me, that’s the case with every nation!) Democracy saved such Indians.

Ignorant people who think defining Lashkar, Taliban, ISIS simply by calling them products of Pakistan (and surprisingly, corporate products of Pakistan) are not helping other ignorant people in understanding the real depths of the matter. Did you ever think why Lashkar or ISIS came up in the first place? Did you ever think how so many people are being brainwashed into joining ISIS or worse still, who’s funding them? Why aren’t all the ‘powerful, developed nations’ of the world coming together to bring development to the under-developed, terror struck, ravaged and assaulted countries? You think they don’t have the resources to do it? Or is it the drive? Did you ever think about the lives of all those Pakistanis who are in abject poverty and are abused not only by people of their own country but also the entire world? Did you ever think about all those Muslims, who by choice or birth, follow Islam but have never even hit their siblings? Have you ever thought of that man who grows a beard because he likes it but is stared down upon at security checks? All of this requires thinking. Where’s the fun in that, right?

Graciously Yours!

*If you think, this post is meant to incite hatred against any country, religion, community or even person, well the whole point of the post is lost on you. I’d probably call you literate then. Just sayin’!

**I have no problem with people using social media. And neither with people bashing terrorists for the wrong they’re doing. What I have a problem is with sharing posts without complete understanding of the situation and spreading hatred without even being aware of it. Every action we take has a consequence, however small your reach may be or however inconsequential the result may be. But somewhere, if not in someone else, in you something changes. Would you rather want that change to be positive or negative?

Edit : In other news from around the net, ISIS got trolled by Muslims around the world when it threatened USA and asked all fellow Muslims to show the world that they support ISIS’s cause. Check it out here! Thumbs up to those who showed ISIS their true place.