Dr. Salikyu Sangtam
Tetso College
If anyone bothers to observe our society, one will invariably be left to ponder questions regarding nagas’ morality. Upon observation, one will be rather dumbfounded by the extreme vindictiveness of our people. It is not just the vindictiveness but also the intense contempt, malice, hatred, grudge, jealousy, bitterness, dislike, hostility, spite, and enmity, i.e. resentment, we hold toward other members of our society—be it against members of own tribe, members of other tribes, or against other tribes in general. And mind you, all these resentments are harbored by the majority of nagas professing to be ‘devout Christians.’ Now, I will admit that what I am about to discuss is unashamedly recognizable by most people, yet they remain silent because either they feel their voice will not be heard by the society busily engaged in an endless rat race with each other, or that because they themselves hold resentment towards others, they cannot be bothered to discuss such issues.
No doubt, my observations of our society may be wrong, and I’d sincerely hope that I am. Yet, the day to day realities or experiences—one’s engagements with others—only substantiate the intense resentment we harbor in our hearts and minds. We harbor resentment because we cannot stand to see others—be they own tribe members or other tribes in general—succeed, prosper, or even gain employment, means, and so forth. We even resent those whom we perceive to be leading a real or imaginary blissful life. We, the proud nagas, cannot bear to see anyone, other than our own self, happy. It is as if nagas have something against happiness.
Why do we resent other persons’ (real or imaginary) happiness? Why do we resent others without knowing who they are as human beings? Why do we resent others on the basis of their affiliations: this or that tribe or clan, etc.? These kinds of resentment emanate themselves in every facet of our society: schools, colleges, churches, universities, municipal councils, hospitals, NGOs, and in every government departments, commissions, and ministries (especially over jobs, promotions, transfers, shares of the public funds, contracts, or which tribes will fill the vacant positions, etc.). We even go to the extent that tribes connive against each other; they cannot tolerate to watch other tribes, especially certain tribes deemed beneath them, grasp the spotlight even for minuscule moments. Only certain tribes can speak on behalf of the whole society, while others are either excluded or reduced to superfluous ancillary roles. Tribes cannot bear to watch other tribes, particularly those they dislike, contribute to matters concerning society’s well-being because the former react indignantly when the latter contribute to the discussions. In other words, resentment radiates and fills every aspect of nagas’ personal and societal lives: resentment toward other persons, tribes, clans, villages, and so on. Surely, given such societal realities, any astute reader will invariably question the soundness of our morality. That is to say, to question the whole edifice upon which nagas’ morality is grounded because there must be something nefarious about it that makes nagas to be extremely resentful. And here, I cannot stress the importance of the term, “resent,” and its derivatives—“resentful” and “resentment.” These words undeniably exemplify much about the prevailing moral conditions of our society. To “resent” is to feel contempt, jealous, bitter, indignant, envious, and malice by harboring grudges, discontentment, and hatred towards others. All the human lower tendencies are succinctly embodied in this word: “resent.” Hence, when we “resent” somebody, no matter the efforts we put in to hide it, our actions demonstrate the intense resentment we harbor for others: persons, tribes, clans, etc. Our actions manifest our resentment for others; they betray the shallow artificial smile or empty façade we put on to hide our true resentment.
Now, the question becomes how did we get so resentful, or why have we let resentment dictate our lives? In my view, these questions can appropriately be answered by probing into the source from which our morality originates. Much of nagas’ contemporary morality stems from Christianity. And the essence of Christianity is “Love”; love for one another and for every being. Therefore, the root source of our morality is this ‘Christian Love’: ‘love thy neighbor,’ ‘enemy,’ and so forth. Thus, when Jesus spoke of “love,” He was talking about love from the heart; love that is sincere and the source of which is “love” itself. Unfortunately, what we’ve done is that we have changed the source of “love,” which Jesus spoke of, from “love” to resentment and contempt. By rooting the source of our morality in resentment, we’ve also inverted the message of Jesus. We have disguised our resentment for others by utilizing and, at the same time, sullying Jesus’ message of “love” and “compassion.”
Thus, when we, under the pretext of Christian ‘love’ and ‘compassion’ profess to care for other persons, tribes, clans, etc., what we really mean is that our way of resenting others is to ‘love’ them, and the source of this ‘love’ is resentment, contempt, and malice. This is a devious conniving trick we have fabricated to conceal our resentment and contempt for others in the words of love and compassion. That is why nagas are masters of deception; we are excellent at tricking and deceiving others with a smile. Every naga knows that we have to be cordial and amiable, even become the best of friends, especially with those we want to deceive because we resent them for whatever absurd reasons. We’ve transformed our society in such a way that it is entirely a workaday routine to deceive and hold grudges; a society where it is completely normal for a person to resent others and also be resented by them. In this manner, we’ve created a suspicious society; a society in which every action, even those done in good faith, is suspected; and beneath every form of gratitude, there resides jealousy and suspicion. This is the society we have created in which we currently reside.
The readers may dislike what has hitherto been discussed. Regardless, ask yourself this question: are you willing, knowing full well the vile circumstance of our society, to let your children, grandchildren, and their children live in the same fiendish conditions? Do you want your child to grow up in a society where to be resentful and be resented are normal aspects of everyday life, much like breathing, sleeping, eating? The answer to this question will depend on what kind of society you want your children to inherit. We, the proud nagas, are particularly good at looking out for our own interests, but this cannot go on if we deeply care and have genuine concerns for the future. Certainly, I do not have answers to the question I have posed to the readers, yet I sincerely do hope the readers will offer answers to this exigent question confronting our society. Nevertheless, to answer this question, a complete self-examination, as well as a reevaluation of the source of our morality, is required.
By “self-examination,” I mean the essentiality of self-criticism, where it is important to passionately believe in something but also, at the same time, hold the wisdom to recognize that our beliefs may be wrong. After all, it is only through self-criticism that we become aware of our own vanities. Whereas, by “reevaluation of the source of our morality,” I mean the reexamination of the foundational source of our contemporary morality: Nagas have a closed parochial morality that is deeply rooted in resentment. And because we have a closed morality, we are concerned with only the interests of a specific entity: Me, My tribe, My clan, My village, etc. Therefore, we perpetually exclude others. Furthermore, our closed morality ossifies conflicts and suspicion, and so treats anything outside of our immediate ambit as hostile, as something to be resented. That is why we not only tainted Jesus’ message of love but also concealed our resentment and contempt in His words of love and compassion. Our closed morality explicitly confirms the depraved mindset of our society, i.e. the immorality of our morality.
As long as we harbor resentment in our hearts and minds, I do not think it is fathomable to sincerely adore and care for our society in general. When we today speak of ‘Naga’ society’s ‘advancement’ and ‘progress,’ we mean either our own personal gain or the gains for our own tribe at the expense of others (Hence, in our society, the term, ‘development,’ is constantly utilized to amass personal gains). We haven’t truly begun to care for the future of our society, i.e. Naga society; on how it will look like in fifteen or twenty years’ time. Rather, we continue to squabble, among many others, along tribal, clanship, village, and family lines. Verily, a sound morality is required for societies to overcome their arduous hurdles; while, depraved morality goes in tandem with the decay of societies even before they begin to blossom.
