Harmony and Conflict

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: 07/08/2024

 Harmony and Conflict

The topic for today's thought of the day might be raising many questions in your mind.

Harmony and conflict can be discussed in connection to different problems and events that

happen in society. I want to discuss this topic based on the recent disaster that struck

Wayanad district in Kerala. The landslide led to the death of more than 200 people and many

are still missing. We saw how the Kerala society came forward to help the people affected by

this disaster. We must appreciate the army and volunteers from different organizations who

worked tirelessly for the rescue missions. At this time there have been a lot of ongoing

debates regarding what caused this disaster. We know that there is an ongoing conflict

between man and nature also there is a conflict between different ideologies of people

regarding the reasons behind natural disasters and whether human activities are adding to the

impact and occurrence of such disasters. During these days there have been a lot of

discussions regarding this in different platforms. One side is of the opinion that the recent

disaster is due to global climate change induced heavy rainfall and human activities have no

roll in it. Another view is to examine the influence of developmental activities and quarries

on such disasters. Landslides mainly occur due to natural reasons like the soil structure,

slope, vegetation of the area, geological reasons and human activities also have a role in it.

We have to analyze all of these areas to exactly identify the cause of it. We can also observe a

conflict between different political ideologies during this disaster. Whatever the reasons

behind these issues be the lives lost are that of people from economically weaker and

marginalized sections of the society, in the previous years we saw that most of the victims of

landslides were workers in tea estates. We have to discuss the impact of such disasters and

how to mitigate the impact of such ones in the future. The physical, psychological, and

economic impact of such disasters must be discussed. At the same time, we must discuss the

impact of human activities on nature. It is human nature that we tend to forget these things

after some time. The reasons behind such disasters have to be investigated by using scientific

methods.

We have to live in harmony with the environment. But is it really possible in the present

times? We have to think about it. We are all directly or indirectly contributing to the

exploitation of environment, we can try to change some of our ways of life to reduce the

impact on environment. Such small changes by each individual can have a great impact. The

words of the former first lady of the United States of America, Lady Bird Johnson is relevant

here, “The environment is where we all meet, where we all have a mutual interest; it is the

one thing that all of us share.” Here she emphasizes environment as a common space for all

of mankind and it is something which we all have to preserve for our existence.