Birth, marriage and death are three imprtant events in or lives. While we rejoice on births and marriages, we lament on death of our near and dear. Quite often mourning is highly emotional and some times, even suicides take place. We have witnessed recently many fans of deceased Andhra chief Minister Reddy committing suicide. Such unfortunate suicides have in the past bbeen committed in Tamilnadu as well.
Recently, the author witnessed the untimely tragic death of a youth of 26 years by motor cycle accident. Apparently, the youth was driving fast, listening to I POD and the helmet was hanging on the handle instead of on his head. The youth had met several accidents in the past but everytime one cannot be lucky. Naturally, the family members and other close pesons were grieved. But what is significant is the reaction. The youth's uncle and some others wept for several days. One of them wept more when his known persons came to console. The satirical part is that even in this event of tragic death of his son, father of the youth was more interested in getting publicity for his business and political activities through obituaty columns. They were utilizing the activity for their narrow interests even while pretending grief.
Death is undoubtedly a very important event. It is inevitable.Death is as necessary as destruction of old papers in office. It is also natural to be sad just as we are sad when some one departs on transfer or otherwise. However, our mourning and reaction should be normal and reasonable. We have to accept death as inevitable. The best homage to the departed is to evaluate their achievements and try to complete their unfulfilled mission. The politicians in andhra Pradesh will do well to ponder over what the late chief Minister wished to accomplish. They should attempt to fulfill the unaccomplished mission of the Late C.M.
We should not only evaluate the achievements but also examine the shortcomings of the deceased and learn from mistakes also. In case of untimely death, we should seriously ponder over the cause of death and take remedial measures. Every untimely loss is a loss to the nation. The nation loses the capital spent on the training and upbringingof the deceased. The Police, Traffic authorities, Fire fighting forces all have a mission. The general public also have a mission to spread the message of safety. All should follow road safety rules, take fire precautions.
Normally, people blame the stars and say that this was the will of God. This is highly irrational. Let it be recalled that Late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned as Railway Minister when a major Rail Accident occured. He knew that it is no use blaming the stars, fate of the passengers of the train etc. For all bad appenings, we are responsible. Nature is responsible only for natural calamities like Tsunami or Earth Quakes. The humans are responsible for train, plane and road accidents. Practrically, everyone believes this. That is why Enquiry is ordered on happening of accidents.In the motor cycle case cited above, it would be better if the parents and other relatives would consider that the tragic death of the youth was caused not by stars but by his rash driving. Such realization may save other lives including tose in the family of the deceased youth. A tragic untimely death is not an occasion for mourning also but also as a warning for taking remedial measures like adhering to safety rules.
The author recalls one mishappening. A matured person of around thirty five years was driving car on national high way during night. He fell asleep while driving and the car got disbalanced. Luckily, he was saved. But one cannot be always lucky. But that person doesnot want to learn the lesson that one should avoid driving car at night for long distance. If any tragedy happens in future, I doubt whether his near and dear ones will react rationally. I fear that will again blame the stars.
To conclude, we must take all measures including publicity to ensure that valuable human lives are not lost through human error.