Hero or villian
Friend or enemy
Freedom fighter or terrorist
Founder of a nation or destroyer of another
Victim or criminal
Martyred or punished
Pro or anti
Heads or tails
People say there are two sides to every coin. True. But when you flip a coin you should get only one side: either heads, or tails. So how is it that the two of us can look at the same coin, and you see heads, while I see tails?
That's when things get murky.
I'm right, you're wrong
We have no common ground
We stand on opposite sides
And from my side, I cannot see your heads
From yours, you cannot see my tails
In 1947 - two major events happened in the Indian subcontinent. Depending on who you ask, you might get two different answers:
A nation was carved apart by a butcher's bloodstained knife,
A new nation was born, eager to open its eyes to brand new life.
It seems like an obvious statement: they both refer to the same event. But again,
I'm right, you're wrong
We have no common ground
We stand on opposite sides
And from my side, I cannot see your heads
From yours, you cannot see my tails
If you studied history in India, you might have come across the name 'Mohd. Ali Jinnah' - the driving force behind the partition of India. He was the one responsible for tearing our nation apart; for forcing the largest human migration in history; for all the communal bloodshed that followed; and for creating a country that has done nothing but wage wars against India ever since it was born.
Yet if you studied history in Pakistan, you probably came across the name 'Quaid-e-Azam' - the man responsible for creating Pakistan; the man who fought for the rights of Muslims in a country that tyrannically oppressed them; the man who envisaged and executed the impossible; the most revered and respected man of our nation - the founder of Pakistan.
Partition or Creation
Jinnah or Quaid-e-Azam
And so, depending on which country you grew up in, you were instantly indoctrinated in the respective ideology.
Two opposite sides of the coin. And again:
I'm right, you're wrong
We have no common ground
We stand on opposite sides
And from my side, I cannot see your heads
From yours, you cannot see my tails
Stuck in these dichotomies in our beliefs, refusing to take that step around the coin and trying to look at things from the other person's perspective.
Why? Because seeing things from someone else's point of view would mean
admitting that I am not the only one who is right
admitting that there are alternative positions on the same topic
admitting that while the other person may not be my friend, he isn't necessarily an enemy either
admitting that there exists a middle ground - a no-man's-land infested with murky terrain forbidding in its appearance
admitting that it doesn't have to be
only friend or enemy
only victim or criminal
only hero or villian
only pro or anti
only good or bad.
Sometimes, it can just be murky.
Friend or enemy
Freedom fighter or terrorist
Founder of a nation or destroyer of another
Victim or criminal
Martyred or punished
Pro or anti
Heads or tails
People say there are two sides to every coin. True. But when you flip a coin you should get only one side: either heads, or tails. So how is it that the two of us can look at the same coin, and you see heads, while I see tails?
That's when things get murky.
I'm right, you're wrong
We have no common ground
We stand on opposite sides
And from my side, I cannot see your heads
From yours, you cannot see my tails
In 1947 - two major events happened in the Indian subcontinent. Depending on who you ask, you might get two different answers:
A nation was carved apart by a butcher's bloodstained knife,
A new nation was born, eager to open its eyes to brand new life.
It seems like an obvious statement: they both refer to the same event. But again,
I'm right, you're wrong
We have no common ground
We stand on opposite sides
And from my side, I cannot see your heads
From yours, you cannot see my tails
If you studied history in India, you might have come across the name 'Mohd. Ali Jinnah' - the driving force behind the partition of India. He was the one responsible for tearing our nation apart; for forcing the largest human migration in history; for all the communal bloodshed that followed; and for creating a country that has done nothing but wage wars against India ever since it was born.
Yet if you studied history in Pakistan, you probably came across the name 'Quaid-e-Azam' - the man responsible for creating Pakistan; the man who fought for the rights of Muslims in a country that tyrannically oppressed them; the man who envisaged and executed the impossible; the most revered and respected man of our nation - the founder of Pakistan.
Partition or Creation
Jinnah or Quaid-e-Azam
And so, depending on which country you grew up in, you were instantly indoctrinated in the respective ideology.
Two opposite sides of the coin. And again:
I'm right, you're wrong
We have no common ground
We stand on opposite sides
And from my side, I cannot see your heads
From yours, you cannot see my tails
Stuck in these dichotomies in our beliefs, refusing to take that step around the coin and trying to look at things from the other person's perspective.
Why? Because seeing things from someone else's point of view would mean
admitting that I am not the only one who is right
admitting that there are alternative positions on the same topic
admitting that while the other person may not be my friend, he isn't necessarily an enemy either
admitting that there exists a middle ground - a no-man's-land infested with murky terrain forbidding in its appearance
only friend or enemy
only victim or criminal
only hero or villian
only pro or anti
only good or bad.
Sometimes, it can just be murky.
