99.9%?

In the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks of November 26th, 2008 in India, I had awoken a different person. The terror attacks were unprecedented and unimaginable by a city that never sleeps, strolls or walks, rather it is always dynamic, ever-changing and fast. It has left a nation in the midst of an economic boom, flustered and humbled. India is a country that has been plagued by communal and religious terrorism since the advent of independence from British rule, back in 1947. This country of over a billion, where every religion on earth has found a home, has been infested with excessive poverty and negligence. The political bureaucracy has turned the masses into commodities and numbers, where the scream of each one is lost in the massive cloud of a billion people. The political, judicial and legislative systems of the country have been demeaned and dismantled by the power hungry political parties that only indulge in the “blame game” and “voting numbers” game.

Today’s world history is being marked by innumerable cultural and economic battles, leaving only the innocent dead. In a time, where the separation between the rich and poor, the politicians and the commoners is increasing exponentially, is there still hope for peace? I remember, watching a speech President Bill Clinton made to the graduation class of Harvard 2007 on Class Day. He mentioned a fact, which has been known since we begun to understand our beginnings. “Each human on earth is 99.9% identical to the other, anywhere in the world. Then why do we continue, to only focus on the less than 0.1% that is different.” And he went further to explain that the underlying cause of all the angst was the fact that, that 0.1% has become more important to us than the 99.9% that is identical.

So, the question for humanity today is, will it be possible to accept the fact that we all are the same, irrespective of the vast superficial and cultural differences that less than 0.1% of variability causes? I feel, the fate of humanity might be resting on the answer to this dilemma.