Let us remember our heroes and treat with respect the worthy and the deserving

 

Let us remember our heroes and treat with respect the worthy and the deserving

An all-original poem by Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

Treating heroes with due respect and approbation Is a hallmark of a civilized society,

Innovators and inventors they may be,

Freedom fighters and liberators they may also be,

Like John Logie Bard or Benjamin Franklin,

Henry Ford or Thomas Alva Edison,

It is also the calling card of an enlightened, progressive and cultivated society,

Therefore, evaluate fairly and comprehensively,

Evaluate in an unbiased fashion and maturely,

Strengths duly acknowledged and appreciated

And weaknesses carefully noted and evaluated,

Adopt constructive criticism,

Not destructive or armchair criticism,

For these reside only in the armory of the weak,  

And bright-hearted optimism and beaming and blazing positivity do seek, 

Pessimism and cynicism must not be condoned,  

Despondency and discouragement along with derogatory condescension, 

Are true signs only of wretched abjection,

Adopt skepticism and certainly not skeptopathy,

Even to a mild and gentle-hearted degree,  

Soak it in and stab it into the throbbing heartbeat of progress,

Otherwise you will up a creek without a paddle be,  

Mandela was known for his anti-apartheid activism,

For which he was unfortunately incarcerated and sent to prison,

He later ran for and became president,

And as the first ever black president he set a major precedent,

For the downtrodden Mandela was a major source of global inspiration,

Gandhi united the oppressed in South Africa in harmony and unison,

And later fought tooth and nail for Indian independence and liberation,

He also fought for social reform with some aberration,

And satyagraha and rural development did champion,

He was not relieved and unburdened from his fair share of failings,

That led to his pitiful ending,

With his idealistic view on religious harmony,

And a tendency to pooh-pooh all-pervasive bigotry,

And tendencies towards racism in his early days,

However, we must all apprehensions allay,

And, evaluations must always be upright, fair-minded, and non-partisan,

Claims of pseudo-secularism must always be investigated with unbiased objectivity clean,

Ambedkar was an important intellectual with many an achievement that we can glean,

His drafting of the Indian constitution was a major contribution,

As was his tirade against the perils of caste which was a major accomplishment,

Though he did criticize Hinduism roundly and unfairly,

And viewed scheduled tribes a tad disparagingly,

Napoleon had initiated many a mighty military victory,

And irrevocably established legal rights and equality,

At the battle of Marengo and the Battle of Austerlitz he earned the brazen cup of victory,

He made stellar and unparalleled contributions to military expeditions too,

Though he was ultimately vanquished at the battle of Waterloo,

Martin Luther King was a man of the civil rights,

Against racism and oppression he carried out many valiant fights,

Against discrimination he thundered loud and clear,

Which had the leadership trembling with fear,

Therefore, praise only the morally healthy,

Commend the intellectually worthy and the academically wealthy,

Don’t suffer nincompoops and self-deluded fools,

Don’t tolerate the incompetent and the aloof,

Don’t condone the meek,

And those who warm-blooded action do not seek,

Don’t tolerate those who lend themselves to sleepy inaction,

Or are prone to degenerate infraction,

Don’t endure smooth riding weasel words,

And yield to delusional weasel talk,

Bear neither braggadocio,

Nor ineptitude only true bravado,

Do not cry out foul,

But evaluate fair, square, and round,

Strengths assessed on one hand,

And failings and weaknesses on the other,

Pursue unmatched intellectual truthfulness and honesty,

And detached scholarly objectivity,

Do not treat cherished souls with unfair contempt and derision,

And evaluate only with fair and thorough precision,

Service to your conscience shall be your only motto,

And your fervid and zealous mojo,

Therefore, do not wickedly and erroneously cuss,

Let alone blaspheme or curse,

The wise, praiseworthy and creditable,

The meritorious and the laudable, 

Let a million more flowers blossom,

Energized by the warm bosom of constructive criticism,

Walk hand in hand in the service of society and the nation,

In this you will find your calling and your salvation,

Those who do not respect the worthy and the deserving,

Will calamitous consequences bring,

And will tear asunder the soul and the fabric of the nation, the world and society,

With non-equanimity often driven by impetuous lip service to the intellectual baseness of ideology,

We must throw out all dodgy and less than deserving approaches of yore,

As we meritorious approaches drive ashore,

Deliverance must come and deliverance cannot arrive soon enough.