Try ignoring the provocation

Letter September 20, 2012
You have tried violence many a time. It has clearly not worked. Try ignoring the provocation for a change.

NEW YORK: The infamous YouTube video and the violent reaction to it in different parts of the Muslim world reminds me of this old, angry man, who lived on our street, in a small town, when we were youngsters. He was the caretaker left by the owner of the house, who had gone on summer vacations.

In the afternoons, when most older people were having their naps, we would gather at the street corner to do what boys usually did — joke, laugh, share stories, pull pranks. No one on the street bothered us except this old caretaker, who would try to shoo us away because he felt that we were noisy and not letting him sleep.


Since boys will always be boys, we wanted to get even with him. We would quietly walk up to his door, ring the bell and run away. He would come out shouting, mouthing obscenities and even chasing us. But we were too agile and clever for him. We would watch him from our hiding places and get a great kick out of seeing him froth at the mouth. We never knocked at any other door except his. He was our villain and we became his tormenters.


Realising that shouting and chasing after us did not stop us from knocking at his door, he quit responding to our knocks. Surprisingly, we got bored with his lack of reaction and stopped ringing his doorbell. Perhaps, there is a lesson in it for the angry protesters in the Muslim world. You have tried violence many a time. It has clearly not worked. Try ignoring the provocation for a change.


Aziz Akhmad


Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2012.