Voices from the past

I found this article that I wrote almost 40 years ago to be strangely relevant even today....

“Our country is “I wrote, “witnessing a strange malaise – one that Yeats laments in the “ The Second Coming”:

“The blood dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

the ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

are full of passionate intensity. “

There is today a loss of faith- faith in our culture, our country and ourselves- to rebuild this nation and to drag it into the twentieth century; faith that the shaping impulse of a people lies neither with fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but in the work of its own hands; faith that it lies in a people to determine its own destiny. It is this spirit; this excitement that should come from the epic enterprise of building a modern nation out of so many ancient races and civilizations that is missing in today’s India. Lacking this, the pendulum of individual emotions swings wider- from the pious prating of the corrupt to the unreasoning fury of the radical—and there is neither balance nor a sense of challenge and growth. And is it not strange that this should be so. For if there is any period one would desire to be born in, it is in the age of revolution, when the old and the new stand side by side and admit of being compared, when the energies of all men find creative expression by fear and hope, when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era; when the only permanent this is change; and when all things – remaking institutions, creating a new social order, indeed, a new man- seem possible. It should be the best of times to live in, if we but knew what to do with it.

Today our greatest danger lies in the spirit of apathy and cynicism, in the acceptance of corruption and venality as normal, in the abject resignation to social injustice, in the toleration of that which should always be intolerable, and, above all, in the limited expectations of individual human endeavor. Faced with the enormous array of the world’s ills, there is in us an irresistible urge to retreat either to the academia in search of the kind of level Archimedes sought to move the world, or to insulated and selfish personal security. Most men thus live lives of quiet desperation responding to the tendentious and tumultuous transactions of the real world by a frightened withdrawal. But is this withdrawal any response at the personal or public level? Perhaps it may be well to reflect that many of the world’s great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of but a single man. Of course, few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but surely it is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that a nation’s history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or strikes out against injustice, he creates a tiny ripple of hope. If this could merge with others from a million centers of energy and hope, can it not build into a torrent that would sweep away the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance?

But neither hope nor passionate indignation is, by themselves, enough; one must be able to convert this passionate intensity into some constructive form. Words cannot substitute for actions nor emotional rhetoric takes the place of rational programs. It is this spirit which informs all that follows – not to search for what is wrong but to define what needs to be done, and how, - in generating a committed youth and a responsive civil service; in harnessing our best talents to national endeavors; in exploiting our resources to the utmost and in creating a community of concerned and involved citizens. In some, the initiative must come through institutions, in all the creative spark must emanate from individuals. For what are institutions but lengthened shadows of an individual.

This seeks to go beyond mere wishes for an overnight revolution- it believes that revolutions are ultimately made by men as individuals, acting together; and that this individual commitment need to be developed and nurtured. And that these emerge neither through the radical rhetoric of the left nor the sanctimonious preaching of the right- words and emotions have become destructive weapons today, and beyond a stage they will neither excite nor incite. Unreinforced by deeds, plans will have no life. And without commitment there can be no plans. Further, the cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing world will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. They can not be moved those who cling to the present that is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger that comes with even the most peaceful progress. We live in times of danger and uncertainty, but paradoxically they are also more open to the creative energy of men in shaping a new world. The future cannot belong to those who are content with today, apathetic towards common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it must belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the building of this nation through new initiatives. There are many in the country that work and despair in isolation but yet do not give up their dreams. For there is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.”

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