These are times of extremes. We leave no space for in-betweens or grays. One casualty of this behavior is our language. On the personal front, I find myself stopping every time I want to use the word "hate" to describe my dislike of something. Hate is a very strong word and comes with a lot of connotation. So do I hate broccoli or do I dislike it? If it is the latter, it should be followed by action. You cannot hate something and then do nothing about it. It is too powerful an emotion. To hate something is to dislike it intensely. It is an feeling that gives rise to feelings of anger and hostility. In the case of broccoli, it should lead me to destroy every broccoli that I see. If I were to pass a broccoli farm, I might get down and raze it to the ground. But none of these happen because I don't "hate" broccoli, I just dislike it.
I also dislike people who do not follow traffic rules. But do I hate them? No, certainly not. If I did, I should run down pedestrians who step on to the road where they should not. Or ram my car into a car that might be cutting across in front of me without using their indicator lights. I definitely do not hate these people, I just dislike them.
Of late, I see the misuse of the term "martyr". When I look at the headlines in our newspapers that use the term "martyr", I shudder.
A martyr is someone who embraces death, even seeks it out so that their message is heard by a large audience. For instance, in 1990 as the protests against the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations gathered steam Surinder Singh Chauhan gave up his life through self immolation. Irrespective of whether you agree with his cause or not, he is a martyr. He embraced death to send a message. He set out to die. The aim was death.
On the other hand, a solider, by nature of the job, cannot be a martyr. A soldier sets out to defeat an enemy as a duty. Death may came in the discharge of the duty but the aim is not to die but to live.
This is not meant to disrespect the many sacrifices made by our soldiers. Instead, I think terming their death as martyrdom is the actual insult.
Soldiers train very hard to stay alive. They never go into battle with the aim of dying. The aim of the soldier is to defeat the enemy and come back victorious. A soldier who needs to first believe in what they are doing is a dangerous soldier. A good soldier is one who obeys a command without question.
The latest trend is to call doctors who have lost their lives treating COVID-19 patients as martyrs. Here too we do them a great injustice. No doctor walks in to treat the patients with the hope that they will give their lives as they treat their patients. They are not there to die so the message that this virus is dangerous is sent out to the world. No, they take every precaution so that they are not put in danger while discharging their duties.
When newspapers and other news outlets term the death of a soldier or doctor as martyrdom, they insult the soldier, the doctor and the martyr.
Comments