May 08, 2004
 
Mother”™s Day

This Mother”™s Day saw a considerable number of mothers who were not happy. In fact they must be feeling the unimaginable consternation and pain.

The mothers of the prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq must be having a terrible time to fathom the humiliation their imprisoned sons were put thru by the army of the most powerful and liberal country. The photos, which are circulating in all the media of the world, have shown the helplessness of the conquered people.  

This was not to be. The U.S army went in Iraq as liberators of the Iraqi people from the tyranny of Sadaam Hussein and removing the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Those of us who supported this action are chagrined at the turn of the event.

The worldview of the morality for democracy, freedom and equality has taken a bit of a beating.  

The mothers of the young American soldiers who have been sent to Iraq (and also to Afghanistan) must be an unhappy lot too. It seems that these young men and women were not trained properly for such duty. The war is not going according to the script they were told. Here the enemy is elusive and borderless and this asymmetric combat in an urban or rural guerilla war is placing limits on America’s competence and credibility.

On this Mother”™s day, the best gift we can give to all the mothers is to have peace and prosperity but to achieve this we need to heed the message of Dalai Lama who was recently in Canada. He talked about compassion and peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect.  
 
Can we rise to this challenge so that all mothers can rejoice in the growth and happiness of their children?   I am a dreamer and there is nothing wrong in dreaming!
 
 
 
Pravin Shah