Sasietho Felix
Asst. Professor St. Joseph’s College Jakhama
Today as we look around our Naga society in every aspect of our social life, it makes me feel so sad to be part of it for we are walking the road that leads nowhere. We use the tag, “Nagaland for Christ” and we find lots of social evils beyond human comprehension or measure. Every society to some extend go through all these and we ought to accept the fact. But are we really up to what we are supposed to be? Nagaland is a Christian majority state but where are the social teachings of the church? Is it in our pocket or in our foot to be stumbled upon? Are we really for Jesus Christ? I guess not, because I feel Jesus is for Nagaland and not vice-versa. Can we ponder upon ourselves and see deep within our hearts? I hope you got the answer looking around our Naga society. It’s a shame to all of us to call our state Nagaland for Christ.
Let me share a short story so as to have a clear understanding of what we are today. One day, the mother crab ask her son “why in the world do you walk sideways like that?”. You should always walk straight with your toes turn out. Show me how to walk mother dear, answered the little crab obediently. So the mother crab tried and tried to walk straight forward. But she could walk only sideways only, like her son. And when she wanted to turn her toes out she tripped and fell on her nose. Yes, my dear fellow Naga brothers and sisters, we are all walking in the direction of what is been taught in spite of seeing all the social evils that are around us. Who is responsible for this? Is it the parents or the children? I hope it is the environment in which the child is brought up and where we live in. Society is a whole system with many sub-systems and if one of the sub-systems is affected, the system breakdown and we are in that scenario. In the sociological perspective, Naga society has reached the stage of social revolution and we cannot deny it. The gap between the haves and have-nots have gone too far. The social evils like bribery, nepotism, favouritism, tribalism etc. is at its highest peak where no one can climb up and see. Indeed it’s a sad reality that we ought to accept and fight to bring change. Now is the time to create a classless and egalitarian society through social revolution as said by Karl Marx. Sometimes with frustration, I think violence is a necessary evil which must be used in our society because mere criticism and sharing the word of God to turn away from all these have yielded no result.
Let us remember that we are all Christians and anything that is against the commandments of the church is not acceptable in the eyes of God. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but losses his soul. A man with a pure heart and clean hands will climb the mountain of the Lord. So let us be humble and be pure in our heart as St. John states, “Where there is God there is humility and where there is humility there is God”. May we live in the ways of the Lord and never walk away from His sight to bring change in our lives. Be the change and you will see the change around you and that will be your greatest gift to God.
