Lessons from India's 9/11

By Abraham Cooper
associate dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center

A few years ago, I stood beside His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a renowned Hindu leader and head of the Art of Living NGO as he spoke at the opening of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's "Courage To Remember" exhibition on the Nazi Holocaust in New Delhi. As he prepared to cut the ribbon at the Gandhi Cultural Centre, Sri Sri said: "many of you here today, including leaders of our country who are my students must be asking yourselves. 'How is it that you--who teaches us how to live in the moment would associate himself with an exhibition entitled Courage to Remember?'---Because in the world we live today, in order to live in the moment-- you must have courage to remember".

Today, there are Holocaust memorials, museums, websites, oral histories and even a United Nations-sanctioned day to reflect on that watershed event; but when it comes with dealing with the human toll of scourge of the 21st Century -- terrorism -- we are all in denial. Coverage of suicide bombings, if they even make the news anymore, is limited to a ghoulish box score of murdered and maimed. Immediately forgotten and often forsaken are the families of the innocents butchered and those lucky enough to have survived.

A few months ago, I contacted Sri Sri and asked him to co-sponsor a multi-faith memorial to mark the first anniversary of the terrorist onslaughts in Mumbai 26-11-08, otherwise referred to as India's 9/11. He assigned a group from his NGO to coordinate with us in Los Angeles. Our plan was to convene religious leaders at one of the targeted hotels, tour the train station where over 100 commuters were slaughtered and hold a candlelit vigil at the Chabad House where a young Rabbi, his pregnant wife and other Jews were slaughtered.

It was not an easy assignment for my Indian friends. Some feared such an event would invite another terror attack. Others were not sure if ranking Muslim leaders would attend. (Indeed, two Muslim leaders flew from New Delhi to speak; one would openly embrace the Chabad rabbi). But the biggest challenge came from Rajita. A soft-spoken professional woman, she simply said: "I don't know if I can participate. My husband and I were held hostage for 13 hours in the Taj. Others didn't make it out. I walk by and see that there are parties and weddings and all sorts of celebrations taking place there; it's almost like people want to forget. But that isn't an option for me. I have never set foot in the hotels since the attack and I'm not sure I ever want to again".

A few days ago we convened that event, with leaders from nine religions and one survivor who was asked to put a human face on the hundreds of victims of 26/11. Before I introduced Rajita, I asked her what made her change her mind? "Sri Sri called me. He told me 'you must have courage to remember', so you will go to the hotel and you will speak: Here is the poem that she wrote and read that day:

"If I Only Met Thee"
You must have
been a cute baby
had a favorite toy
chased little chicken with glee
I was just like that too,
Though I never met thee
You must have
had a best friend
made paper boats in the rains
loved the fluffed up hot puri *(fried pancakes)
I was just like that too,
Though I never met thee
You must have
loved the warm cuddles of your mother
had joyful rides on the rickety merry go round
cracked fresh winter mungphali **(ground nuts)
I was just like that too,
Though I never met thee
Then, when did our lives change?
How different our paths became
I turned to spirituality to heal minds
You picked up the gun against mankind?
At our cores we were still the same
Though I never met thee
That night we came face to face
I thought it would be nice to meet thee
I ran fast, only away from you
Coz you had come to kill me
Later I read, that you died instead
While I live on to a greater destiny
My faith was more powerful than your weapon
When you came to kill me
You taught the world that violence never wins
No one should be, where you have ever been
I am sure your heart knew you were wrong
Then why did you come to kill me?
Your hatred has made my love stronger
I will work more for peace and harmony
You would have been a different person too
If only I had met thee! ***

To win the war against terrorism we will also have to win the war for the minds and hearts terror's potential recruits. We can find no more powerful an ally in this struggle than in Rajita's unbowed humanity and the message she delivered on behalf of the faceless victims of Mumbai.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper is associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He recently traveled to Mumbai to coordinate a multi-faith memorial to the 26/11 victims.

By Abraham Cooper |  December 7, 2009; 2:29 PM ET Save & Share:                 
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