Studying with our hearts

I'm glad that many of you all went ahead to watch the video on Sri Lanka already. Judging from the response I get along the classroom block corridors, comments made and questions in class, alot of you have responded in one way or another to the atrocities (terrible acts) that have been committed.

Mass murder, suicide bombers, car bombs, child soldiers, hate-killing... are just a few.

A sight like this is common in the cities of Sri Lanka where the clashes between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils are taking place. For those of you who still have no idea why so much hatred exists between the Sinhalese and Tamils, please read up on pg. 98-102 of your text. For the rest of you, read on...

I know some of the images in the video tend to be quite disturbing. I apologise though, if I've freaked anyone out. But the reality is as such. Some of us think that Sri Lanka is such a far away place - all this killing is happening to someone else, some other place, nothing to do with us. Really....?I believe the purpose of chapter 4 is to really get us to think about a couple of simple questions that applies to every single human being on this earth:

1. Why do groups of people fight? Why can't people get along?
   
2. What are the consequences when such fighting takes place?


3. Do these fights get resolved? Is it even possible to resolve them?

You know, Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland are just the 2 case studies that Uncle MOE wants you to know about and study of. But there are thousands of other conflicts going on between different people groups of the world today. India/Pakistan, Isreal/Palestine, East Timor, Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia, and the list goes on and on. What does this prove to us? One thing: That conflict can happen to anyone anywhere.

Like this woman in this picture, sitting in what was once a house. What strikes me about this picture is not that her house has been destroyed, but the holes in the walls that have been made by multiple gunshots. There are sooo many of them! I cannot imagine what it would have been like to be in that house at that time... That woman could well be you or me. We in Singapore are just blessed that at this present moment, we don't have to face a civil war. Yes, it wasn't that long ago that we experienced racial riots.. (1964 is only 34 years ago).

This girl.. I don't even think she's your age, she may even be half your age. I don't think they want war. They so so young they might not even understand the meaning of war. Ironic isn't it..? Conflict can happen to anyone anywhere. The DNA that makes us want peace is the same DNA that enables us to turn on one another.

As we go through this chapter, let's not just study it for the sake of answering exam questions. Let's study it with our hearts, understanding and probing deeper to find meaning in the things that we learn.