In Hindu Mythology, it is said that after Shiv lost his wife Sati, he cried so much that his tears made two ponds, one of which is the site of Katas Raj Mandir in Pakistan. In Abrahamic traditions, the Prophet Jacob(Yaqub), after being told that his son, the Prophet Joseph(Yusuf) had been killed, cried his eyesight away, for what is the purpose of the eyes, except to behold the beloved?
After 9/11, the Western nations cried so much that their tears fell upon hundreds of thousands of homes in the Middle East, in the form of bullets, missiles and bombs. Similarly, after the Peshawar Attacks, the Pakistani populace cried away their humanity and did not stop crying until their blood lust was sated, never wondering whether that blood was innocent or not, never stopping to think if in a state with as shady a justice system as theirs, should even have this power, let alone be allowed to use it freely and indiscriminately.
And so, after the Bataclan attacks, the Western nations will be blinded by their tears and take a step that does no benefit to itself in the long-term, save that it will soothed the voters’ concerns by making it seem that their elected representatives were taking some action.
Or so I thought, until I saw a status. A status, which I deemed to be click bait at first glance because it had been shared by nearly all the major publications. A status by one Mister Antoine Leiris.
I was wrong. Seriously and completely wrong for what I read was nothing less than magic, making me, an adult, who had never met him cry for someone I had never met.
A quick look at the comments underneath made me realize that perhaps this peculiar habit of humans to leak water from their faces was maybe not that bad. Maybe what the world needs right now is more crying. Maybe the only thing the world needs rights now is more crying. Not the quiet sobs that escape our chests when we ourselves are hurt, but loud, heartfelt wails that shake the heavens themselves, wails that shake the human soul itself, every time any single one of our neighbors, no matter how far, is hurt.
Maybe what really need to do is that every time we hear about a wrong being committed, we cry and wail and weep and grieve and mourn our eyes out until the whole world is washed anew by our tears. Let us cry until Shiva himself is jealous of how us mere mortals turned the whole world into Katas Raj. Let us cry until we lose our sight, only to gain it again once the world becomes one we are proud to call our beloved, a world as beautiful as Yusuf.
For, it seems, the only way to live together is to first recognize that the other person feels pain too. And then to feel the other’s pain until the point that when the other hurts, you, yourself hurt so much that you try to remove the cause of the pain.
Lets let our tears ready to fall for innocent human lives everywhere. For Gaza, for Syria, for Palestine, for Paris, for Pakistan. Lets cry for the Rohingya, the victims of Boko Haram, of the Daesh and also not forget to cry for the Hazara and the Ahmadis.
Let us cry until we flood Gaia with our tears, let us cry until Noah’s Arc is once again needed.
But lets not let those tears be for the wicked and those whose only aim is to spread violent chaos.
Mr Antoine Leiris’ status’ translation can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L8Wb2wLkB4
