Only the dead have seen the end of war
Nayeem Hossain California, USA
I live away from home. Thanks to technological development, now we can know what is happening in our country before the people of our country know! It is possible because of the time difference we enjoy. Sometimes I really don't feel that I'm thousands of miles away from my family, friends, in one word from my country. I thank the newspapers, their journalists for their courage, dedication, and innovation in telling stories. But sometimes I wish I didn't have all these to read. When I was in Dhaka I used to read only one or two newspaper, here I read or try to read as many as possible. Unfortunately some stories, not some the main stories of everyday in Bangladesh really, make me sad. I am not talking about all the bomb blasts and corruptions and political cartoons; I am talking about stories like the fate of Dipali. I can't believe how low a human can feel about herself when she has to take her own life just to be free from life itself. As if to her life had become a burden, a burden about which God forgot to tell her. Those of us who live as expatriates, we leave our country to live a better life. At least we had something called life back in Bangladesh, but for Dipali we couldn't even ensure that basic need, which was her right. A teenager and her family ate food by rotation just to stay alive! Where as a fellow human being, a fellow countryman I should hide the shame. God forbids, we are not like many African countries, where nature is cruel with us. We have resources, we had become self-sufficient in food before, then why do we have to read stories of Dipalis? Do we really know how many Dipalis are there in Bangladesh? After her death now many are promising support for her family, I thank those from the bottom of my heart and pray for their well being. I read that the neighbours learned many of the stories of the family's poverty. My question is for the neighbours to feel the pain of hunger of that family, they had to wait for Dipali to give her life? Where was the local initiative, where was humanity? When would we realise that small initiatives are what Bangladesh need?This is the month of Ramadan, I am sure already the country is in full flow of yummy Iftars. Many of the parents are already having a hard time to pick the perfect, unique dress for their child. And yet we have stories like Dipali's. I always believe only the dead has seen the end of war. Dipali's tender shoulder was just not strong enough to fight any more, so she had to end her war against life itself. This Ramadan Dipali has taught me what life is all about. Did you all learn the lesson, too?
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