A Price Worth Paying – esi, ‘08

A Price Worth Paying – esi, ‘08

A price worth paying, and a sacrifice worth making …
A bride worth waiting for, and a flavour worth savouring …
A Good worth buying – its benefits priceless …
A journey worth taking, destination unknown …

An altar where self must die and nation arise
A place where comfort must retreat, and unflinching resolve proceed
A place where sweat runs freely, pacified by weary cotton friends
A place where calories are tested, coursing through excited veins
A place where tempers can soar up high, crest and explode
A place where human lava can boil, and volcanoes erupt
A place where nothing is free, where the currency is life itself
A marketplace called democracy, a place where we rise

Better than war, and troubled sirens
Better than the screams of innocent children
Better than guns, booms and bombs
Better than fires, smoking embers and tear gas
Better than big, ruthless dogs on the prowl
Better than heartache, pain and death
Better than refugees with nothing, and yet great a load
Better than oppression, suppression and confusion
Better than all the ‘shuns’ that shun peace
Better than the alternative – chaos unleashed

A marketplace for sharing dreams
A marketplace for hawking ideas
A marketplace for trading talents
A marketplace for finding comrades
A marketplace where nation rises
A marketplace where me and you are fused into us
Sojourners for the common good, destination unknown …

I started writing this piece while standing in line to cast my vote. I heard people (including myself sometimes) complain – the queue was long; the sun was hot; they didn’t start on time; the people were tired; there was no shade; the rules weren’t clear; the process was cumbersome; etc etc,… and several times, people tried to make things easier – offers to get me a seat, move me up the line etc etc., but I realized how little a price, it was to pay … a small price for democracy -- a small sacrifice compared to those who struggled to make this freedom real, and those who laid their lives down for the cause. As I stood there, I thought of freedom fighters from around the world and different eras … in our own minute ways, those who are willing to endure the ‘pain’ of election processes are the new freedom fighters – those who will do what is right and good, suffer just a little for it, and allow the interest of the nation to overshadow their comfort. Yes, we are the new freedom fighters – our first step in demonstrating our resolve to dare – to dare to do things differently and to set the right example, and prepared to pay a price for an invaluable commodity. Anyway … before I get carried away … it was a price worth paying. A minute sacrifice in the face of greater losses that others have endured.