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A Lament!

(on the occasion of a man humiliated and condemned)

Yesterday marked a black day in the history of humanity. It will probably not be given the weight of leaving an imprint in the larger history but it will be forever one in my memory. And today is my day of lament for we have shown that we are no better than the “other,” no different from the “other.” We have rushed to the aid of justice and destroyed its very ideal in the process. We have “delivered” justice but within the prejudices of our "assumptions" and "affiliations." What if he was "one of us"? Would we seek the “same” justice? What have we achieved today? That at the very core of us lies a “barbarism” that can be unleashed fed by the fuels of our own rash actions though we could well pass off as sensible and civilized people. I mourn this day, not because I will condemn whatever “wrong” has been committed but more so because of the “wrongs” we have done without flinching, without remorse, without understanding, without conscience. I mourn because I am not sure how far this "triumph" can be celebrated and shudder to think if this will ever come back one day to "haunt" us? I am more than simply alarmed because I cannot imagine how far we will reap the consequence of what we sowed today, narrowed by our prejudices will we turn on each other too? Call me an alarmist, seeing that which is not real but I will mourn this day because in the quest for justice we quenched the truth, for what good is justice without truth? We gave truth no room, we showed no quarter, we closed in, we condemned and pronounced "our" judgment.

So then, what shall we celebrate today? The “triumph” of “gory justice”? I mourn this day because I thought we were better than this, that we were a people of a “higher” calling. And today the truth is for all to see—we can be but no different from the “other,” we are "undone" by our own hands.

Yet for the sake of “some” let me not condemn all and yet it is for those that I mourn today. I mourn today because yesterday the dark side of humanity reigned, for yesterday we gave darkness a footing. So today I will mourn and tomorrow I will hope. I will hope for restoration and wait for the Light to shine down on us once more to show us the way and lead us to truth and justice. I will hope for hearts that will turn and hearts that will "re-turn" from the path we chose to walk yesterday. This will be my regret that what was done will never be undone, but this will be my hope that as painful a memory it will be, this "pain" will be the guard of our hearts and minds lest we numb ourselves and explain it away, lest we forget.
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