Last night was hell on earth here. The Diwali celebrations descended into an outright war in our neighbourhood and it did not end well for anyone. People were screaming, shouting; crying, being threatened, sworn at; animals were freaking out. Heaven only knows what the birds and other wildlife were going through. The scourge of fireworks caused untold strife and hatred in our neighbourhood; it was too dreadful to witness. A neighbour called me to talk about it this morning; do you know that his boerbull (dog) died last year during Diwali; it had a heart-attack and died. It is so ironic that Diwali celebrates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness when all it causes in city suburbs is death and darkness for a large majority of its residents, and brings out the evil in most people. My heart bled for humanity last night and it has bothered me all day.
Fighting against this is not working. People have been trying for years to ban fireworks in suburbs, they are just being ignored flat and the revelers just don’t seem to care one bit about the impact they have on life around them. I can’t just sit by and let this “just be the way it is”. Surely we can do better as a species than to traumatize millions of animals and people in the name of religion and tradition? Guy Fawkes is another one of those “traditions” that are doing so much more harm than good.
With that in mind, I have decided to start a P.E.A.C.E initiative – People Empathizing and Caring about Everything.
Our neighbourhood Facebook group will be P.E.A.C.E in Vorna Valley x25. The group for the residents and families of Vorna Valley x25 who want to live in harmony with each other and nature. If you are tired of the conflict around you, maybe you could do the same thing for your neighbourhood. No violence of any kind is allowed, only positive stories, uplifting ideas and change for the better. Members of the group must be actively interested in being the change the wish to see in the world and create a way for others to follow should they choose to do so. We could share ideas on what’s really working well and implement them in our own places.
I have compiled a plea for sanity letter that I am giving to every single person in our neighbourhood this week and inviting them to try something different. We have to do something, anything. We can’t go on like this, it’s going to end in homicide for goodness sake!
Filed under: Leadership
by Veronique Palmer via Views from Veronique
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