Peace From The Festivals
It is October, the beginning month of the autumn season. Three of the world’s major religions – Hinduism, Judaism and Islam, have recently celebrated the annual festivals of their diverse faiths. During this time, they will have exchanged hopes, blessings, and, always to the delight of the young – gifts. In Christendom, the festive period is some months away, but the spirit of giving and receiving simmers away in the making of Christmas puddings and the saving of pennies for festive generosity.
As the leaves begin to fall and the nights draw in, the beauty and spirituality of the changing seasons lends a charm to the land that is so often forgotten by the breathless promise of summer. But the chill in the morning air is quick to remind us that each season has its own inimitable charms.
We all, across the world, have our own experiences in this sense. What we should always remember is that these changes mark a common bond of humanity, and that they should help us understand the beauty of life and the diversity it reflects in society.
No matter what our differences are in terms of race, gender, religion or prosperity, fundamentally we are all the same. We have many differences, but our similarities in body, soul and earth should tie us together in the things that we want both individually and as a society.
These facts, however, are sadly overlooked by some. In Britain and the United States, indeed in many parts of the Western world, the potential for finding common ground in diversity is attacked with ignorant malice by those that seek to drive us apart.
That we can co-exist peacefully in a multicultural society is something illustrated by a thousand stories happening everyday across our cities, towns and counties. But there are budding authors out there who seek a different narrative, and will use the most vicious of means to write it into history.
This new narrative is one of segregation, domination and fear. It is propagated by people like Neil Lewington, who has recently been caught with the intention of starting a race war. It is given the thinnest mask of respectability by the BNP, whose upcoming Question Time appearance Jonathan Fryer examines, and it is disseminated in the media through homophobia, as Valentine Rossetti examines in our guest column.
In a world full of peoples as diverse as ours, it is tempting to say that there will always be ‘haters.’ And when one looks at the past, our current economic malaise and the uncertainty of our environmental future throw sharp relief on the potential for social discord in times of precipitous change.
It does not have to be this way, though. Again, looking to the past, there is potential for great good to come of calamity.
This can only happen if we come together, and not if we let ourselves be torn apart. In this spirit, Society Today wishes you a joyous Dashain, a pleasant Diwali, a happy Rosh Hashanah, or Eid Mubarak. In the words of our interviewee, Chris, Moon, “life is a precious gift for all of us and you have got to make the most of it.”
