{"id":792,"date":"2012-12-29T20:00:24","date_gmt":"2012-12-30T00:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sangamithra.wordpress.com\/?p=792"},"modified":"2012-12-29T20:00:24","modified_gmt":"2012-12-30T00:00:24","slug":"on-being-jolted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sangamithraiyer.com\/?p=792","title":{"rendered":"On Being Jolted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, an emaciated \u00a060-ft finback whale was found on the shores of Breezy Point in the Rockaways. \u00a0Rescuers and local residents of this area recently ravaged by Hurricane Sandy \u00a0kept pouring water on this sick animal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was just so much devastation this year,\u201d said\u00a0Diane Bassolino after using a water bucket to keep the creature hydrated. \u201cWe just wanted to see something survive.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The whale, however, did not make it. \u00a0We don’t know much about her (even her gender ), why there was no food in her stomach, why she washed onshore, or where her pack was. One report estimates she lived 90 years. \u00a0There are many things she must have seen, so many changes she must have witnessed. \u00a0She \u00a0was buried \u00a0in the sand dunes near where she beached herself. \u00a0I wanted to witness the burial, \u00a0but learned \u00a0it was already over. \u00a0I, however, was not done mourning, for her and so many others this year…<\/div>\n

Our hearts are still aching for the people of Newtown, Oakcreek, Aurora and all the ones that came before.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, I saw The Island President<\/a>, and the inspiring Mohammed Nasheed reminded\u00a0\u00a0us that Male, the capital of the Maldives, is no higher than Manhattan. He warned, \u201cWhat happens to the Maldives today is going to happen to everyone else tomorrow.” \u00a0 \u00a0 And it did. \u00a0 We witnessed destruction in the Rockaways, Coney Island, Staten Island and lower Manhattan. \u00a0It was an awakening.\u00a0A struggle is emerging.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Solnit argues this struggle is a gift:<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

The gifts you\u2019ve already been given in 2012 include a struggle over the fate of the Earth. This is probably not exactly what you asked for, and I wish it were otherwise \u2014 but to do good work, to be necessary, to have something to give: these are the true gifts. And at least there\u2019s still a struggle ahead of us, not just doom and despair.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And as this year comes to an end, among the many losses we mourn is a young Indian woman, \u00a0a physiotherapy student \u00a0who was the victim of a brutal gang rape. \u00a0We don’t know much about her either. Nilalanjana Roy writes a powerful tribute to this anonymous woman:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Let there be an end to this epidemic of violence, this culture where if we can\u2019t kill off our girls before they are born, we ensure that they live these lives of constant fear…Don\u2019t tell me her name; I don\u2019t need to know it, to cry for her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Sandip Roy writes<\/a> :<\/div>\n
\n
\n

In all the stories about the 23-year-old rape victim as India’s Braveheart, it’s worth remembering this. She had no intention to be a braveheart. She didn’t want to become a flickering candle on some dark street corner. She didn’t want to become a symbol. Of sorrow. Of hope. Of our shame. Of anything really. Those are all identities we have given her. She just wanted to go home. Perhaps tell a friend what she thought of the movie she had just seen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

There \u00a0was something in her story that shook \u00a0all of us. \u00a0S. Roy continues<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“Let’s not question why this jolted us more than other rapes now. Let’s be thankful we are capable of being jolted.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a year that we have collectively \u00a0been jolted by single events that were not singular in nature\u2014acts that have been or may become too common. \u00a0Though, we are still trembling from the aftershocks, \u00a0S.Roy <\/a>reminds us,\u00a0\u00a0“We learned that it is possible to shake a country out of its apathy.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, an emaciated \u00a060-ft finback whale was found on the shores of Breezy Point in the Rockaways. \u00a0Rescuers and local residents of this area recently ravaged by Hurricane Sandy \u00a0kept pouring water on this sick animal. There was just so much devastation this year,\u201d said\u00a0Diane Bassolino after using a water bucket to keep … <\/p>\n

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