How would you feel and react, if one day, you were to wake up and find out that the gods were having a war in the heavens? No matter in what god we believe, we all believe our gods to be our creator and the sustainer of our lives who knows everything about us and who is constantly watching over us and keeping us away from harm and danger. We believe our gods to be our protector, our guide, our unseen but constant companion and the dispenser of justice in our lives. And most of all, we all believe that we would cease to exist the day our god (or gods) takes back the life which came from Him in the first place. In short, we all believe that everything including us begins and ends with god and without god’s constant love, care and watch over our lives, we cannot expect anything good to come out of this world.
And so, if that is our idea of god, how would you feel and react, if you wake up one morning and find out that the gods in the heavens are having a war? Surely we would expect our whole world around us to come crumbling down within no time.
In reality, the gods in the heavens may not be having a war. So we don’t need to worry about that literally. But many in our society today experience situations like their gods are having wars in the heavens.
When a child is born into a family, it is the responsibility of the parents to take care of the children and ensure that the kids are nurtured and brought up in a healthy and loving environment. And in this endeavor, it is of utmost importance that the two parents unite and present a united front in taking care of their little ones. Studies have shown that children who grow up in homes where parents are loving and respectful towards one another are likely to be much more ahead and smarter than children who grow up in dysfunctional and disoriented homes where the parents are constantly at odds with one another. No one is more vulnerable than children and children, especially in their formative years, depend on their parents for everything from their most basic daily needs to their biggest and most unimaginable dreams and aspirations. It is said that no one can influence and shape the lives of children like their parents can. So, how important is the role of the parents in the family? For the children whose parents are always at odds with one another, whose parents never agree on anything, whose parents are always arguing, fighting, shouting and yelling, it is just like witnessing the gods having wars every day. It should be the endeavor of every parent to ensure that no kid grow up in such hostile and unfriendly homes because the effects on them would be devastating and God will surely hold the parents accountable and responsible for it.
The family is the first thing that a child encounters after he is born. The next venue where a child learns valuable and lifelong lasting lessons is the school. There are schools where the teachers are superbly working hand in hand without any major issues between them. Such schools are doing superbly well in delivering worthwhile and humanitarian service to the community as a whole. But I also know of schools and colleges where the teaching staffs are constantly at odds with one another. It is through the eyes of the teachers that the students see the world and the teachers are the role models of the students. In fact, I know of students who believe and revere more the words and opinions of their teachers than that of their own parents. So in a school also, if there is no unity and harmony amongst the teachers or the teachers are always egoistic, resentful and vengeful towards one another, the students will experience a situation where they feel like their gods are at war and in such a scenario, not much positive or fruitful results will come out of the school either for the teachers, the students or the society.
It is said that today we are living in the age of democracy and as such, every 5 years or so we elect our representatives and entrust them with the responsibility of looking after the welfare and wellbeing of the society and its people as a whole. The first and the most primary responsibility of these representatives is to look into the welfare, wellbeing and developments of the people and the society because it was for this alone that they were elected in the first place. For the people (the electorate), these elected representatives are like their gods in a way because the people look up to them and expect them to provide better roads, better health facilities, better educational opportunities, better provisions of electricity, water etc and etc. We also look up to these representatives to bring about the needed and required developments in our lands which will make the life of the common men easier and more fruitful so that they may move forward in line with the rest of the world. But many a times, it is found that these so-called representatives and leaders, instead of taking care of the welfare, needs and aspirations of the people, are more interested and consumed in advancing their own lives and careers and satisfying their own egos at the cost of the public. And if our representatives, upon whom we look up to for all our needs and expectations, are in such self-centric, egoistic, resentful and vengeful mode, it is akin to a war taking place in the heavens amongst our gods.
Time and again, we have all heard the phrase, “united we stand and divided we fall” and this does not need any further explanations. The scripture also says that ‘a house divided amongst itself will not stand’. It also says that ‘even if two are gathered in the name of the Lord, the Lord with be with them in fellowship’. All these demonstrate the power of unity. One may have a thousand reasons why he cannot work hand in hand with someone and all those reasons may be genuine and fair enough. But times come in everybody’s life where we should be smart enough to realize that confronting and staying at odds with one another will only take us down and never up.
Today it seems like our whole society is in a confrontation mood. Everywhere we go we see people at odds with one another, arguing and fighting over matters that do not even matter in the big picture. And when we see this, most of us get on board and become partakers not realizing how much damage we are doing to ourselves and to our society.
In one way or the other, we are all a parent to someone, a teacher to someone or a leader/representative to someone and these people look up to us, depend on us and take us as their role model. Therefore, we should not set a bad precedent for them to emulate. When we live bad-tempered, short tempered, inconsiderate, ill-mannered, negatively minded, full of vindictive spirit, selfish and self-centered etc, for the people who depend on us and look up to us, it is akin to witnessing their gods having wars in the heavens and such situations will never bring forth anything good and fruitful in our society.
The scripture says that “blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God”. So I guess the best way to mitigate this war of the gods taking place all around us would be by humbling ourselves and becoming peacemakers instead of troublemakers. And we need to do this especially for our children so that they would not have to grow up under a hostile and disadvantageous environment at home or outside the home. And I guess to keep peace should not be that difficult because it would take only some minor adjustments in our attitude and approach towards one another. Actually, nothing is worth spoiling the peaceful atmosphere at home or for that matter anywhere. Very often we don’t realize how much more productive, creative and vibrant we would be when we are in a friendly, cordial and loving environment than when we are in a hostile and tension-filled environment. At the forefront of our mind should be the realization that we are going to be here only for a short time and that it is not just about ourselves but about others also and that nobody lives or dies unto himself. And what we say and do today may have a deep and lasting impact not only on the people who are with us today but also upon generations that are yet to come…
