Love in the time of war
We live in perilous times. The world is seeing wars and war-like situations all over the world for the first time since the end of World War II. We, in India, had our challenging times a few weeks ago, and conflicts are happening in literally every continent with major flashpoints and a whole lot of other fires that are not really
getting global attention because of their more limited impact. But the fact remains that we may be the closest to a global crisis than we have ever been, in close to a century. Whether one is an Iranian in love with an Israeli, an Indian with a Pakistani, Chinese with a Taiwanese, or a Rwandan with a Congolese, when things get to a head, our different loyalties get called into question.
Love is supposed to be a healing factor, it is supposed to help us connect to our humanity beyond our differences. In times of peace, we even celebrate such love across borders and even encourage it, but when conflicts erupt, these are the very relationships that get called into question. When loyalties clash and the larger world outside demands allegiance to specific identities, the intangible bond of love can feel very fragile. The pressure to choose sides, to abandon the person who represents the 'other', becomes immense.
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