“9 Italians, 7 Japanese, 2 Bangladeshis, 1 American and 1 Indian were taken hostage and then killed in my beloved city of Dhaka, where I was born in 1872”, said the red complexioned Ahsan Manzil in a voice choked with emotion.
The Gateway of India put an arm around her consolingly and said, “I understand exactly how you feel, my sister, I still remember that dark night of November, eight years ago, when the merchants of death entered the city of Mumbai through my very gates, and I could not do anything about it”, tears streamed down the eyes of the 92 year old Mumbai monument as she recounted the horrors of that fateful day.
“The merchants of death came in a boat and entered the city of Mumbai and released a storm of hate and terror across the city, killing hundreds of innocent people, and I watched mutely, unable to do a thing. I watched the massacre across the road at The Taj and The Oberoi hotels and all I could do was wail and bemoan my fate”.
The Iron Lady looked sympathetically at her friends, her normally erect posture seemed to have stooped slightly as she spoke in a soft voice which sounded husky, probably because of hours of crying. “They call me the “Iron Lady” and I have been standing tall and erect from 1924 but what happened last year in November in Paris has affected me like nothing else has. Bloodshed of innocents, is something that should never happen”. “Why is Man fighting Man? Why are guns replacing flowers? Where has love gone?
The Blue Mosque sat pensive, lost in thought as they all looked at him, hoping for some words of reassurance, hoping for some kind of direction. They all looked up to him expectantly as he was the oldest of them all, at 400 years, he had seen more of the world than they had and he was a font of wisdom.
“We need to do something NOW, said the Blue Mosque gravely”. “Just the other day, my beloved Istanbul was turned into a river of blood by these faceless terrorists whose only religion is hate”.
“But sir, what can we do, we are all helpless and are mute witnesses to the mayhem across our cities”, said the “Notre Dame du Sablon”, from Brussels.
“We cannot continue to be mute spectators, it is time we shook our foundations and did something, otherwise it will be too late”, said the Blue Mosque somberly. “Billions of travelers from all around the world come to see and admire us and their lives are at risk because of the heinous intentions of a few, this needs to stop”!
The monuments then were huddled together for 12 hours of continuous discussion and then came to a decision, they wrote an open letter to all the heads of State and all the religious heads of the World. Here is what they wrote:
Dear Brothers and Sisters of this beautiful World,
Please do something today, to stop this bloodshed. Say yes to love and a BIG No to hate. Stop the manufacture of weapons of hate and death. Increase the manufacture of weapons of love and peace, e.g. trees, flowers, monuments, sculpture, paintings, books, music etc.. The World is very big and there is place for everyone to live in peace and harmony, in fact only 43% of the earth’s inhabitable area is utilized today. Don’t let religion divide you, when we monuments are one, than why can’t you humans, who are supposed to be super intelligent understand the oneness of humanity. There are only two religions, love and hate. Please convert everyone to the religion of love and banish hate out of the world. We, all monuments take a pledge today to support you in a joint quest for peace and happiness. We are ready to sacrifice our lives but do not want to see the tears and blood of innocent people wash our cities, we do not want to hear the wails of a child crying for the touch of a mother who lies still and lifeless in a pool of blood.
We do not want the monuments of the world to cry!
Monumentally yours
Monuments of the world.
This article was originally published on our Voyager site -
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