My thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to the victims of yesterday's horrendous and utterly avoidable tragedy at Mina (near the holy city of Mecca)........
What is even more galling and reprehensible is the fact that such man made tragedies have become bi-annual if not annual features of a life transforming journey made by millions who throng the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with bowed heads and prayers in their pious hearts.......
And this is how the Saudi royal family; auth...orities; officialdom and medical personnel repay the spirit of hope, trust and piety reposed in them by teeming millions who continue to throng the arid; desolate and seemingly inhospitable regions of this decadently prosperous kingdom in the hope of atoning for their sins and making the long journey back home renewed; refreshed; rejuvenated and replenished.........
Faith can and will continue moving mountains; but the same needs to be tempered with a healthy degree of skepticism; objectivity and rationality; the world community as a whole needs to sit up and take note of the rapidly unfolding human tragedy and exert it's considerable and collective pressure as well as angst about these events that leave us cringing and wondering about what might have been if professional and effective crowd management systems would have been put in place........
There is a lesson all of us need to learn from this horrendous and heart rending human tragedy; firstly let's stop mollycoddling the Saudi royal family and condoning their sins of omission and commission time and again as they hold sway over a considerable portion of the world's oil reserves.........
Secondly; let the annual Haj pilgrimage be monitored by personnel who are equipped with the latest technologies and methods of tackling and facing a gargantuan tragedy efficiently and efficaciously rather than a bunch of novices obsessed with saving their own skin...........
And lastly will some wise man or men impress upon the Saudi rulers the irrefutable fact that the annual pilgrimage needs to be a boon or salve for the teeming millions who throng the desert sands year upon year instead of the sheer torture and pain that it is at present........
Here's hoping that this is the last such tragedy in Mecca and Medina and that such tragedies are never ever repeated.........
What is even more galling and reprehensible is the fact that such man made tragedies have become bi-annual if not annual features of a life transforming journey made by millions who throng the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with bowed heads and prayers in their pious hearts.......
And this is how the Saudi royal family; auth...orities; officialdom and medical personnel repay the spirit of hope, trust and piety reposed in them by teeming millions who continue to throng the arid; desolate and seemingly inhospitable regions of this decadently prosperous kingdom in the hope of atoning for their sins and making the long journey back home renewed; refreshed; rejuvenated and replenished.........
Faith can and will continue moving mountains; but the same needs to be tempered with a healthy degree of skepticism; objectivity and rationality; the world community as a whole needs to sit up and take note of the rapidly unfolding human tragedy and exert it's considerable and collective pressure as well as angst about these events that leave us cringing and wondering about what might have been if professional and effective crowd management systems would have been put in place........
There is a lesson all of us need to learn from this horrendous and heart rending human tragedy; firstly let's stop mollycoddling the Saudi royal family and condoning their sins of omission and commission time and again as they hold sway over a considerable portion of the world's oil reserves.........
Secondly; let the annual Haj pilgrimage be monitored by personnel who are equipped with the latest technologies and methods of tackling and facing a gargantuan tragedy efficiently and efficaciously rather than a bunch of novices obsessed with saving their own skin...........
And lastly will some wise man or men impress upon the Saudi rulers the irrefutable fact that the annual pilgrimage needs to be a boon or salve for the teeming millions who throng the desert sands year upon year instead of the sheer torture and pain that it is at present........
Here's hoping that this is the last such tragedy in Mecca and Medina and that such tragedies are never ever repeated.........
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