One-Ness

There comes a time… when we heed a certain call when (Bhutan) must come together as one…

I used to remember these lyrics and sing it. My Value Education teacher used to make us sing to it in the class. He'd drum away on his guitar and we would bang the desks, shouting at the top of our voice. Of course we were in class VI. And he was our Principal.

But that was years ago, and we didn't know the meaning of the lyrics, just that it was a wonderful english song.

Then the earthquake happened. Bhutanese lost lives, lost properties, people became homeless. The newspapers couldn't do justice to the tragedy. There were just pictures and stories.

But for people who were in its midst, it was more than that… more than pictures… more than words. It was reality, stark naked.

They were our people, our brothers, our sisters, our fathers, our mothers, our sons, our daughters… our friends, our husbands, our wives. It was us, Bhutanese.

But Bhutan answered to the call. We did… you did… he did… she did… they did… we all did. We came as ONE. Together. We were tested. I think we passed.

But the work is not done… there are still many healings to be done… spiritual healings. The physical wound can be healed quickly, but the spirits once hurt takes years to heal. We might not look each other eye to eye. But we are still human. When the situation demands we will come as one, as we have done so.

Today I remember the lyrics again, and think that it was an admonition….