For more than 200 years Britain was at the heart of a rich (to them!) transatlantic trade in millions of enslaved Africans. On 25 March 1807, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed.

During the period of slavery traders became rich. In parallel many slaves were raped and abused. Imagine living on a farm but before you are put to a lifetime of work you are branded on the chest. How could a man not see the other as equal? The slave owners had no respect or love in their hearts for their fellow humans.

I wonder how an attitude of abuse could prevail throughout society at the time.
Is it a case that there was no compassion, respect or understanding?

The same question has to be put when someone commits an act of communal violence, ethnic cleansing and racial abuse.
All of the latter are a matter of scale but are based on the same premise - surpression based on power and the morals of the day.

When the Nazis killed / exterminated of 6,000,000 Jews their hearts and minds were not filled with remorse as they had been brainwashed.
The question to ask is: Could this attitude of abuse, torture and hate raise its ugly head again?
Unfortunately, the risk is yes, as humans can be manipulated. History shows us this but why do we do not learn?!

When 1,000,000 people marched through London approx 4 years ago to take a stand against invading Iraq, what difference did it make?
I’m certainly not implying that we should give-up the need to strive for peace and respect.

A sad fact is that over the last 200 years slavery has survived. In addition, Human rights abuse continue.
Take a stroll over to: http://www.amnesty.org/ and see the proof for yourself - We need to remember that the world is still in turmoil.

Visit also: http://www.antislavery.org

One of their campaigns includes the situation in Sudan, i.e: During the 20 years of the Sudanese civil war between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/ Army, which ended in January 2005, conflict, raids and abductions in the Southern part of the country were carried out by various militia groups, leading to the enslavement of approximately 14,000 men, women and children. Despite some efforts by government and civil society, the majority of those abducted remain in slavery today, along with thousands more children born to them while in captivity.

This siite also outlines today’s environment of slavery to the ‘things we buy’: Please see: http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/campaign/whatwebuy.htm

We need to work together to ensure freedom for all. It is up to us to support those that want the right morals for the world, else we will regret the power we all have to help others. After all why are we here in the world, if not to ensure that we all are free.

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Just some really great fun - French style.
As much as I deplore the Idol forumla, there are some great character’s that emerge:

[youtube]LbE-fSH9E-4 [/youtube]

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A few weeks back I wrote an article suggesting that self-less service is the only way forward. I’d like to re-iterate this by saying that service to help others is part of the path to merge with God. It is an important part of being a Sikh and although technology has attempted to speed-up our lives, it is up to us to remember it as essential for our spiritual journey.

Last week I attended a funeral of a really dear uncle / close family friend. I will always remember that whenever he greeted you he would smile and have a genuine warmness about him. He had a joy that excelled from his soul. He helped others through voluntary work and we will all have great memories of his pleasant, thoughtful and kind nature. He will be sadly missed.

Robert G Allen, business, finance and motivational author (famous for co-authoring, with Mark Victor the best sellers, ‘The one minute millionaire’ and ‘Cracking the millionaire code’ suggests,’ The future you see is the future you get’. However, when we think about the future do we base it on how rich we will be or do we look at the non-monetary value of helping others?

Stephen R Covey, famous for the classic, ‘Seven habits for highly effected managers’ suggests, ‘I’m convinced that we can write and live our own scripts more than most people will acknowledge. I also know the price that must be paid. It’s a real struggle to do it. It requires visualization and affirmation. It involves living a life of integrity, starting with making and keeping promises, until the whole human personality the senses, the thinking, the feeling, and the intuition are ultimately integrated and harmonized.’

Service is about commitment, both to yourself and to humanity. It is difficult to profess this attitude when a national Sunday newspaper outlines stories of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have yachts’. Articles appear about materialism to fuel the competitiveness of humankind. Sure, a lot of the motivation for earning a living is associated with the simple rules of trying to survive but should it be at the expense of crushing others?

In the world today we still have child labour, inner city decline, people living on the streets and violence is now being cited concerning kids as young as 12 – maybe this is through mis-channeled energy. I recently heard about youths that are terrorizing their housing estates. Any attempt of reasoning with them is returned with a bout of targeting, abuse and attacks. There must be a way of establishing a world where harmonization of living standards can be achieved and where reasoning can prevail.

One approach maybe to instill as part of our education system a new subject called : ‘One world’. This topic could develop links to volunteer organizations. Students could partake in local and national initiatives to help others, learning essential skills such as empathy and good will. Once they have completed managed assignments these life skills could make them a better and more rounded people / individuals.

Potentially an attitude of service could develop from within and people will remember each other not for how big a castle they have built but for the joy of giving they maintained throughout their life.

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It was Monday night when I received the following text message (extract and in sms speak): ‘URGENT 12th March chnl 4@9pm – ‘last days of the raj’ – C 4 urself how 70% of da Sikh homeland was given 2 pakistan & in return 600,000 Sikhs killed…’
I tuned in at 9.10pm and was glued to the screen until 10.30pm.

There is a lot of emotion that runs through the mind when one watches ancestors struggling for freedom. What is further evident is the way 1000 of years of community life was divided. Emotions rise to concern that a few people decided the future and the division of assets together with boundaries.

I also thought one statement made by the many interviewee’s was quite prevalent ‘we allowed extremists from the Hindus and Muslim to divide a Country into 2’. In August it will be 60 years since those fateful days…

The documentary was part factual and part serialised - Yes, part factual as there were some interviewees that just could not help themselves to distort and misrepresent. It was almost as if their emotions and political ambitions were still alive today. Limited interviews with Sikhs was also interesting - Why did the researchers ignore the contribution of the Sikhs.
More Sikhs died for India’s freedom than from any other community.

Although I was born in the UK I’m shocked when I hear real and not orchestrated face-to-face eyewitness accounts. My father has told me about the horror at Amirtsar station, when train loads of, bludgeoned corpses arrived at the station, he was there. In addition, lost and orphaned children – what were those so called leaders thinking about? At one point in the dramatisation we see Lord Mountbatten, his wife and Nehru flying over the border regions between, they spot two lanes, both 150 miles long, travelling in opposite directions. They pause and speculate for a second about what will happen when they meet. Too late now, the damage was done and it would lay the foundations for future unrest.

It is also essential to remember that even after partition Punjab continued to be divided.
In addition, missing facts from the programme are of concern, for example broken promises to the Sikh community by Nehru.

60 years later with 2 major wars between India and Pakistan, together with countless border encounters, harmony is just not there. Was this disruption or partition plan intended as a way to create inherent and lasting limitations? Or, am I being too cynical? Remember, the gift of administration still weighs India and Pakistan down.

Some may suggest that India is exhibiting an economic turnaround.
I say, walk the streets and see the parallel lives that people live.
One parallel in high rise apartments, the other on the streets, aged 10, cleaning shoes and then running from the police to help an entire family fend. There is one other parallel, us in the West intellectualising over the whole situation.

Documentaries are great. SMS’s that remind us to tune in are great, yet the addressing the issue of balance and harmony is simply reserved for a G8 or Jee Ate summit.

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