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by Viswam Sundar
It is always a moving and absorbing experience to
live in a foreign country when it is going through a crisis. That is when one
gets to see the true character of its people, the strength of its institutions
and relevance of its social and political processes.
Crises
occur in one’s own country no doubt, but one is too enmeshed in its parts to
ever see the whole. The daily struggle for survival breeds disillusioned
cynicism and stifles objective analysis. On the other hand, a foreign country
compels detachment and allows you the opportunity to learn your lessons more by
dispassionate observation than by active participation.
I
was in a certain country when it decided to allow its women to work. To most
Westerners, this would seem insignificant. But for a country that requires all
its women to cover even their hands and hair in black cloth the moment they
step out of their homes, this was a decision of inconceivable importance. Till
then, women had only been allowed to work as doctors, nurses or teachers, in a
country where expatriates numbered one-third the population. At one stroke,
this decision would double their workforce.
Everything would change. No office building had been built to
accommodate women workers. Entire floors, sometimes entire buildings had to be
converted to provide for women.
But
that was only physical change. Think of what it did to an absolutely
male-dominated society.
Barred
from doing anything else with their lives, the women had studied abroad and
acquired qualifications that the men had never aspired to, as they never saw
the need. Many of the women spoke English and a foreign language, having spent
a lot of time abroad. This added to their self-assurance and aggressiveness,
backed by the confidence of unlimited wealth. Now, when they were allowed to
work, some of them were qualified and confident enough to be leaders and
managers - of men.
If
they were allowed to.
And
that question is the basis of a conflict that will indeed fester in that
society for a long time to come and turn its social system on its head.
It
was a tremendous time for any discerning observer and despite being an
outsider, I could not but feel the agitation of a society in the throes of what
I can only call a sea change.
And
now in America, we are once again in the midst of a sea change, albeit of a
totally different kind.
Pause
for a moment and feel the enormity of what has happened in this country in just
the last couple of years.
America
ended the last century with a plunging economy and an ambiguous election result
that caused so much bitterness. Terrorism hit its shores on a magnitude
unimaginable to the sane mind.. Allegations of monetary misdeeds and the
collapse of some of its most prestigious business houses not only eroded trust
in its financial system but also reduced the life earnings of millions to
rubble. Job losses continue till today
as corporations struggle to stay afloat. The country has been in the grip of
severe drought conditions for quite some time now. A madman continues to scream his demonic challenges from the
mountains of Tora Bora. The ominous shadow of another war looms on its horizon.
The
country seethes as it chronicles the doings of profiteers who exchanged their
souls for the bottom line. It writhes, stung by a beehive of burning questions
stirred up by the devotees of terror, questions of morality, of history, of
immigration, of race and religion.
A
lesser country would have gone under. That one September day alone would have
resulted in a communal bloodbath of unthinkable proportions.
Misfortune
tests not only the quality of the fiber but also the resilience of the weave
for that is what truly makes the cloth.
We
have seen this country in mortal agony. We have seen it search its soul and
come up with the stuff that made it what it is. We have seen a country unite
unwaveringly behind a leader whose election it questioned just sometime back.
We have seen the power of patriotism, the vibrancy of a free press and the
process of disciplined national debate. We have seen a nation at work.
It
is not often that one gets to see a sleeping giant being awakened - all over
again.
There
are lessons to be learnt. There are lessons to be carried back to our own
shores.
As the only superpower in the world, the
decisions that America makes in the next few months will change the course of
world history. We, citizens of another
country, standing as we are at its crossroads, must consider ourselves
fortunate to be witness to this momentous process, and in doing so, to become a
part of it.