The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

 Dear Readers,

 

We are a passionate and presumably educated community with an unyielding sense of pride in our glorious religion and our illustrious forefathers, who set the definitive tone for our race – Parsis – as a bunch of progressive and cultured people, comprising hard-working achievers, philanthropists and visionaries. As is the wont of most forward-thinking communities, ours too has its set of disagreements – and that is a good thing. Coz that’s how democracy works out to the benefit of its citizens – when those elected to power ensure a governance that best benefits the people; even as the opposition keeps a close eye on them, to ensure the same, raising more than a voice when that commitment goes astray.

 

These voices of opposition play a strong role in our country and moreso, in a community as ours. And it is therefore more incumbent that these voices practice responsibility enough to be raised from a platform of truth, reason, intelligence and sensibility – especially because they claim to represent the sentiments of the community. Voices, filled with fervour born of good intentions, and expressed at high decibels, are still unfortunately, not a guarantee of ‘doing right by the community’. That calls for one to first examine and verify the facts before screaming foul – because fervour, especially religious fervour, is highly contagious and spreads like wildfire – as religion is so intrinsic to us. The need of the hour calls for heightened fact-checking, before we start screaming foul. No one doubts the intentions of these voices that genuinely believe they speak for the safe-guarding of our community’s religious and other interests. Even so, the damage caused by the actions resulting out of these well-intended voices, is irreparable. The road to hell is, indeed, paved with good intentions.

 

But it gets worse. It’s even more disparaging when some self-proclaimed ‘leaders’ incite a group of innocent community members into joining their supposed ‘community cause’ with their high intensity fervour and even louder voices (read noise). Soon, the true essence of the cause is drowned in the tumultuous sea of their cacophony, as these ‘leaders’ surf the waves of self-righteousness and ego. Friends, take the effort to dig a little deeper, and most of our loud, holier-than-thou rebels, will have their slips showing… Personal agendas (be it for one’s own material benefits or for a sense of NRI-redemption at having flouted the very rules they now scream hoarsely to protect!) which weren’t able to see the light of day ordinarily, are slyly made to resurface, only now under the garb of the ‘voice of the people’ raised to ‘protect the cause of our Community’. YOUR voice is lent, unintentionally, to forward THEIR personal agendas. Your voice, full of good intentions, is still leading you and the rest of the community that’s listening to you… to hell!

 

The ongoings within our community in the recent past have served as prime examples of this unfortunate reality.  So, be wise, be prudent, but most of all, be responsible. Verify your cause – check for facts with as much scrutiny as your fervour, no matter how strongly you feel about it, before lending your voice to it. Don’t let a few people with vested personal interests and high decibels, render you and your fervour, gullible. And imbibe this crucial practice as a social media habit too – verify the facts before blindly forwarding messages, even if you do so with the ‘good intention’ of informing like-minded and concerned friends and community members. Because as you know, at the expense of sounding repetitive, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

 

Have a good weekend!

 

– Anahita