The past few weeks in our ‘nation’
have seen senseless killings of in-
nocent citizens and a monstrous
debasement of human life.
Clearly, this vicious drumbeat, focused on
jarring our sensibilities and drumming
fear into our consciousness, has only
fuelled the already pent-up rage in many
quarters. What makes this matter all the
more disturbing is the incompetence, the
helplessness and the indifference of our
political leaders.
But then, as this fabric of the sanctity
and the sanity of human life seem to fray,
a troubling question to raise is, what is the
way out? Some have strongly recom-
mended that the President should resign.
Unfortunately, the key to protecting the
sacredness of human life is not the next
President (as important as that might be).
Others have argued that the rise of insur-
gency in the country is owing to the influx
of immigrants and the influence of the
western culture. Therefore, our borders
should be shutdown.
Bernard Lewis once observed that
“when people realize that things are going
wrong, there are two questions they can
ask. One is, what did we do wrong? and
the other is, Who did this to us? The
latter question leads to conspiracy theory
and paranoia. The first question leads to
another line of thinking: How do we put
it right?”
Indeed, how do we put it right? The
senseless killings and forceful abductions
in the country suggest that something
has gone hideously wrong with our views
and understanding of human life – the
human life already scarred by poverty,
unemployment, a high level of illiteracy, a
low standard of education, religious and
political fundamentalism and of course,
corruption.
In the holocaust museum in Jerusa-
lem, there is a chamber of mirrors. In
the centre of this chamber is a candle
reflected to infinity in the patterns of the
mirrors around it. What this symbolises is
that one life and countless millions of lives
carry equal dignity and value. Whatever
threatens the life of a lonely poor man in
the remotest part of this country must
be a concern to anyone anywhere in the
country. Therefore, the first step is to
restore and renew a culture that prioritises
the life of each person in the country.
When priority is placed on the life of
each person, the government will not
address terror attacks based on party or
religious affiliation. When the human
life is highly valued, the government will
not treat terrorists and terrorism with
kid gloves. When the sacredness of life is
treasured, vigilance becomes the watch-
word of each state and each community
or neighbourhood. When we value the
life of each person, we will ensure that
the dignity of human life is taught to our
children at home and in school. When we
build a culture that respects human life,
there will be less and less of police bru-
tality and, our security men and women
will be highly trained to protect citizens
and bring these psychopaths called Boko
haram to their knees.