ATROCIOUS! AWFUL! Abysmal! Appalling! Brutal! Cold-hearted! Cruel! Inhuman! Dreadful! Deplorable! Distressing! Disgusting! Ferocious! Frightful! Ghastly! Gruesome! Ghastly! Grisly! Hideous! Horrendous! Horrific! Heartless! Inhumane! Inexcusable! Outrageous! Ruthless! Shocking! Sickening! Sinful! Scandalous! Terrible! Vicious! Vile! Upsetting! Wicked!
All of these ugly words (and more) have one thing in common – they’re regularly
used worldwide to express the disgust, ignorance, and insanity of corporal
punishment.
Often the abuse and torture of children is perpetrated somewhat surprisingly by
‘men and women of the cloth’, self-ordained representatives of their God and
allegedly adhering to and practicing His teachings. They’re the worst of all.
They argue (and believe), their deplorable inhumane actions are performing the
work of God and in the best interests of the abused victims.
Rubbish!
Total rubbish! There are approximately 4,200 religions in the world. Of those
the five most predominant religions globally are Christianity, Islam, Judaism,
Buddhism, and Hinduism. Not one... I repeat... not one... religion
condones corporal punishment and I’m not just referring to those in the Top 5,
but to the 4,155 other religions as well!
So where do people get these irrational ideas that corporal punishment is
beneficial for children? Where is the proof? Some will retort they were given
corporal punishment and it didn’t do them any harm, as they reach for their
pick-me-up pills.
Child abuse
It would be crazy to think that a child
from God – a child of God – would be sent by Him to be beaten,
maimed, mentally and physically tortured, and damaged for life... if not
killed by the hands of the abuser or even by their own hands in an attempt to
escape the mental and physical torture and cruelty. Make no mistake, call
corporal punishment by any name and it’s still child abuse.
It stands to commonsense, corporal punishment is inhumane and wrong...totally
wrong. How could it be right for a human being to strike another human being,
especially for an adult to strike a vulnerable defenseless child? It’s
outrageously abominable and impossible to justify in any civilized
society.
When an adult (Imam, ‘teacher,’ or parent) strikes a child they are
spotlighting their own ignorance or evil. Unfortunately, it’s a painful and
possibly a life damaging experience for the poor victims. Corporal punishment is a senseless evil act
committed by senseless, evil, ignorant people bankrupt of humanitarian virtues
and compassion,
Gift from God
Momentarily... (pause here...) imagine a loving couple whose one ambition in
life from childhood is to parent children, embrace them with love, and teach
them what’s right from wrong and help them to achieve their full potential to
serve God, the nation, and humanity at large. They yearn and pray together,
maybe even for years, for their wish to be granted by the Almighty. Then one
day, by a stork express courier, their wishes/prayers are answered and a delivery
is made.
Some years later, they send their pride and joy and most loved, to a hell-hole
school or madrasa where hatred, violence and cruelty of different degrees are
played out in front to their eyes as if they were watching a stage production
of an evil drama and are punished in front of their peers for some silly
inconsequential mistakes.
Their love of learning reduces dramatically. Their hate for school increases
dramatically. They can’t wait to return to the safety of their loving home
environment. The respect for those ‘teaching’ them is lost in a flash and most
probably they wonder why their loving parents would subject them to such abject
misery. Corporal punishment yields no benefits, only misery.
Children would benefit more if they were encouraged to do better, rather than
be ridiculed for their efforts, even if their efforts are sub-standard. The
greatest craving of mankind is to be appreciated. Those who show appreciation
are rewarded beyond their wildest expectations and there’s an added golden
bonus – the donors in turn are loved and appreciated.
In every child there are the makings of a saint. Imams, ‘teachers’ and parents
should be encouraging and helping to foster this glorious manifestation and not
hindering it through the evil of ignorance or their own limitations.
While they may not be satisfied with their own achievements in life, that
should not prevent them from encouraging those in their charge to perform even
better. Kindness and compassion are virtues that should be evident everywhere. For
any nation to grow, prosper – indeed to have a worthwhile future – there has to
be a national, decisive and collective effort to eradicate corporal punishment
and not build dreams upon broken children. If you don’t heal the wounds of
the past, you continue to bleed. (SFP)
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