When Jesus came into this world he saw that there was suffering in the world and humans were still not familiar with the idea of humanity. Along with many of his divine teachings, love for humanity was perhaps the most significant one for the civility of human conduct in the society. And as his gospel and concept about caring for humanity spread, the civilized intellectual societies accepted the need of humanity for the whole of humankind. The impact of Christ’s teachings is still eminent in the order of the world organization like the UN. The UN and its organs play a great role in restoring peace based on humanity throughout the nations in the world.
As for the Naga Christians we focus more on Jesus being the son of God and seldom about his teachings to love and respect one another. Our society has become more conservative than liberal. Even the order of law in our society is brute and inhumane yet we accept it as if every paradigm is justified.
In the western societies there is a term, “innocent until proven guilty by a court of law”. The cops there don’t just jump up on citizens and assault them in front of the public. They first read them their rights and are taken to custody and are given the right to one phone call. Then they are only interrogated after the suspect first consult with their lawyers and are not subjected to any physical or mental torture. Being a Naga and living in the Naga society everyone knows that we don’t have the privilege of civilized conduct of law in our society.
The behavior of the law enforcement personnel upon the civilians could all be traced back to the ignorant system that still prevails in Nagaland in this modern era. During the training of the recruits the amount of burden weighted upon the recruits is a factor for such kind of attitudes. It has been reported that they are brutally punished even in the most unethical ways which is why many flee away from the training camps due to extreme exhaustion. They are made to slide body flat in urinal pools from their bathrooms. It has also been said of the ‘training masters’ saying, “the bones in your body doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to us and we could break it if we want”.
We are not suggesting them to breed a weak batch of personnel but there are more ethical means to train the recruits so that they will not just be physically fit but also mentally and emotionally stable. The recruits should also be trained to remain calm in extreme conditions and how to interact politely with the civilians for the smooth welfare of the society. There are many impacts on the emotional and mental health of an individual after a traumatic experience. Post traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) has been known to affect our personal affairs and relationships and conduct in the society. That is why many advanced countries and states have implemented “anti-bullying” legislations in workplaces and even in schools.
Another extent of irrationality in our society is the attitude of women towards their own sisters. When a woman is found to have committed adultery with another married man, then she is dragged from the streets and trashed by women folks of the in-laws and shaved bald in front of all the community. Now what amount of justice is it served by proving to everyone that we could not even come up with civilized form of punishments and applying age old customs which creates trust issues and fear among the civilian. There is always ‘the court’ at our disposable to solve our issues in an ethical and rational way. As in the US where they solve such issues based on mutual understanding or the culprit is subjected to pay alimony to his/her spouse after divorce.
Not any man comes up with plans to behave irrationally in the society. The act of one bully could create a chain reaction of harassment and physical violence in the system and any one could fall a victim of this invisible force that could derail our moral judgment. It is time we stop repeating the same patterns which prove our ignorance, in the pretext of following customs and tradition, for the rest of the world has gone too far from where we are.
Should we neglect all our traditions, no but we could omit the irrational ones and preserve that which affiliates with our integrity and virtues. We could also add the refined ones from the civilized societies and maybe possibly we could be the “One to Look At” in the future by all the societies.
