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How Do We Respond?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Youth-succumbs-to-injuries-after-taking-on-eve-teasers/Article1-764099.aspx


This is not about the enclosed incident... it is more concerned with the response. The first question that comes to my mind is why should some boys have the courage to first of all eve tease, and then secondly back it up with violence. The next question that comes to my mind is equally disturbing - why are such incidents - I am referring to random violence - on the increase? And the third obvious question that pops up is what are we as individuals and as citizens doing about it?

I dont have an answer to the first one. Quite frankly, I dont have the slightest idea as to the reason. One thing is certain, at least to my mind: our falling morals standards, our it-doesn't-concern-me attitude, corruption and the attendant I-can-get-away-with-it feeling, are all involved. One cant just state that there is one specific reason. As to the second question, this is obviously connected to the first. 
My main concern is what is our response? Do we, as a people care? If by response you mean reading the news and ruminating over it / blogging about it (like me) / forgetting it / discussing it, then neither constitutes a response. In my mind, we need to become a lot more community minded, to join together and create a cohesive response. This is indeed not going to happen overnight, but it needs to be done. And the impacts of this will be experienced in a multitude of areas. It might sound far-fetched and idealistic, but there is no other sure-fire way
Because, when you come right down to brass tacks, the absence of a fear of a punitive response is one of the major factors that engenders such behaviour. And if you look around you, this absence of a fear is evident everywhere. Punitive response does not mean action from the side of the law (which is a topic unto itself) but rather presenting a common front; responding to a person in genuine need; ensuring a community feeling; creating proper pressure on the administrative machinery to act etc etc. 
We are so concerned with ourselves and our families that we fail to see the impact on society, or our roles and responsibilities as citizens.And it is this that is most worrisome... it is this basic lack of understanding that is at the root of several problems - even corruption. We pay bribes - to ease our own way, unmindful of the long-term damage that is being done to our country. And, somewhere along the line, corruption is also one of the factors that is equally to blame, since corruption engenders a safety net for illicit behaviour - people believe that they can get away with it. Thirdly, the lack of a proper functioning legal system where the guilty get swift retribution is also yet another factor that is responsible.
Community awareness, Corruption are both social evils- and they are affecting us in diverse ways. Unless we wake up to our responsibilities, there can be no improvement.... 

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