The advice in the papers and on the TV was to stay home. Early morning some of us went running, but then I did myself the disservice to sit and watch the tragedy unfold. The streets were empty in Mohali as 18k away in Panchkula cars were burning and blood was painting the streets red. I tried to determine if any of us were in danger. It did not seem that way, but then I heard about some trouble at Sohana which is on our doorstep. (Whatever happened, it was quickly resolved)
I prayed for those in the midst of the violence but must admit that I am happy that I wasn’t there. I was encouraged that despite the immense pressure, the justice system delivered the verdict of guilty. This is assuming that the verdict is correct. I am sure that such a decision was not taken lightly.
I had a plan to run 30k on Saturday but wanted to do it while staying close to home. So that is what I did.
Just to give you some perspective, every sector in Chandigarh and Mohali are approximately the same size. It is about 1.2k long and 800m wide. It was tough to find enough road to run 30k inside our sector.
I thank God that we are not living in fear every day like in many other nations. We have the freedom to be happy, freedom to go places, freedom to think for ourselves, freedom to choose what is good. It is having this choice that makes love and kindness sincere. But it is also this choice that causes sin and crime and hate. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” says the Bible. And the God who created us to have free will exercised that free will himself. “…and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” It may be free and grace for us, but it cost Him an expensive price as Jesus had to die for it.
So life goes on. Peace and quiet have been restored to some extent. The question I have asked myself is if I would be brave and compassionate enough to help defend the helpless and the innocent (though no-one is truly innocent) when such events come even closer to home. Or will I run away? Maybe I am even now running away from doing the right thing. There is so much injustice all around us. There are so many people suffering due to unjust acts of the rich and powerful (of which I am one). Where should I become a voice for the voiceless, a protector for the powerless? To whom should I introduce my Protector today?
Running with a Friend 