Bokali Mughavi
Dimapur
Like most right thinking Nagas who want to experience a more peaceful and a prosperous Nagaland, I feel very disturbed every time some of our Naga brothers are shot dead, most times in factional clashes and that too in broad daylight. The thought of another Naga brother made in the image of God being shot and dying like an animal saddens me beyond description. The feelings of frustration and sadness at our people’s lack of respect for life, the feeling of helplessness at our people’s inability to truly forgive, let go and be reconciled to each other, to be able to look at life beyond anger and bitterness are perhaps feelings that are felt and shared by most of us who have grown up in Nagaland and have longed for peace and change to come for many decades now. Though the intensity of violence may have been varied over the past decades, most of us in one form or the other have witnessed or experienced a violent and an unjust situation in our land and in our lives.
Most times I struggle with the question as to whether we, as individuals and as communities are doing our best to bring an end to the endless cycle of violence we see in our land. While we all acknowledge that violence has decreased in our land over the past decade, I wonder if we can actually dream of a time when taking of another person’s life by a bullet will create shock and enough despair in everyone’s hearts enough for all of us to raise our voices as one against violence in our land and pursue the path of forgiveness and healing individually and corporately. In other words, I wish and pray that the cry of our hearts will be to realize the power of a single individual who will care enough to hurt when any of our Naga brother or sister is hurt or killed. That we will not leave the Ministry of Reconciliation to FNR, Peace Channel, Naga Mother’s Association or NBCC alone but that we will be courageous enough to speak out against the use of arms and violence against each other, that we will be reconcilers amongst our brothers and sisters and be able to appreciate the peacemaking efforts made by our other Naga brothers and sisters instead of being suspicious of their efforts. Our people have everything to gain and nothing to lose if we join hands and support each other in our efforts to bring a desired change and peace in our land. Each and every Naga individual should realize that we are indeed our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.
In Matthew 5:9 it is clearly written: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. If we consider ourselves as children of God – sons and daughters of God, we might as well remind ourselves that God has called all of us to be peacemakers where ever we are. This conflict ridden place could be our own families, our society, our workplaces, our churches and our own land. I would like to mention about a book I recently read, titled Religion and Political Conflict: From Dialectics To Cross-Domain Charting written by Marian Gh. Simion, an Orthodox Theologian as well as an International Strategy Consultant. Simion mentions the term “Religious Absentism” in his book and explains it as “religious institutions who view themselves as promoters of peace but in practice failing to intervene as peacemakers in cases within their spiritual jurisdiction.” The writer even cites the example of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, where Christian churches did very little, if not nothing to promote violence or to promote reconciliation thus resulting in the killings of about 800,000 Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda. Now I am not trying to say that our history of violence is parallel to that of the Rwandan genocide. But I do think we need to realize the deeper meaning of “Blessed are the Peacemakers” that Jesus taught his followers which is still very much relevant and will continue to be hold relevance as long as human beings continue to live on this earth and want to co-exist peacefully without constantly harming each other.
My understanding of the term “Religious Absentism” in our context is along the lines of “not practicing what we read about peacemaking in the Bible.” As Bible believing Christians we Naga christians are all aware about the blessedness of being a peacemaker. The ministry of reconciliation then is not just the job of some organizations, few churches or some peace activists who have been rendering their time and resources they have to promote the message of peace in our beloved Nagaland. The need and cry for peace should be voiced by every Nagas in our own homes, neighbourhoods, our local churches, communities, religious and secular institutions, government and private establishments etc, etc until our message for the need of peace is heard very loud and clear by every Nagas and also Non-Nagas living in Nagaland. This need and prayer for peace should ring even in the hearts of new born babies that are born to every Naga households every day so they would grow up to be lovers of peace and be peacemakers of their generation. Every responsible Nagas should desire a peaceful Nagaland for our children.
At the cost of sounding unrealistic or even being ridiculed for suggesting what I am about to suggest; we have got to dream of a better Nagaland which would need the cooperation of every Naga individual from all tribes and all classes of people including our national workers of different factions. We have got to believe in each other’s dreams of a better Nagaland for Nagas living in Nagaland, Manipur and Myanmar or even in other parts of the world. This would mean respect for another human being’s life, being concerned about the welfare of a lesser privileged friend/neighbour/colleague/classmate or a church member. This would also mean listening to each other’s stories of pain and loss, finding meaning in our sufferings and making our pain and heartaches count enough to be a source of comfort to other Naga brothers and sisters who have been hurt and wronged, because we all have experienced injustice in one way or the other at some point in our lives. This would also mean explaining about this article on pursuing the path of forgiveness and peace to someone who is still living with hatred and help that person realize that forgiveness is the only path to peace. Being our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers also means that we need to have the courage to say sorry when we have wronged or hurt someone instead of justifying our wrongdoings and continuing to live in this cycle of anger, unforgiveness and violence.
We have got to find the courage to practice what we not just preach but apply what we hear in our lives and be consistent in our beliefs and practices when we are being watched and even when we are not being watched. The cry and longing for a peaceful Nagaland should ring in our hearts everyday so we would be challenged and dare to be agents of change in our land. Most importantly we have to find the wisdom to humble ourselves in the sight of our unseen God for Him to grant us His divine love and the courage to forgive and love our brothers whom we do see (as mentioned in 1 John 4:20-21).
Grant us wisdom Oh God!
That we may know the depth of your wisdom.
Grant us Peace Oh Prince of Peace!
That we may experience your peace on earth.
Fill our hearts with love Oh Love Divine!
That we may learn the power of forgiveness
Grant us courage Oh Almighty!
That we may learn to let go.
Grant us Wisdom to choose Love
Peace to usher in Justice,
Love that will transform our lives
Courage to help us love!
