Responsibility - The July 2011 Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

In retrospect, I missed many substantial events that occurred during this summer, and I'll try to cover as many of them as I can this first week.

Mumbai, India; a city with a population 20 million and one of the financial hubs of Asia was rocked by a series of terrorist attacks on the evening of July 13, 2011. In the global spectrum, I will say myself that this was truly a small occurrence; unfortunately, it's also small enough to be overlooked. When compared to an attack such as 9/11 that ended almost 5000 lives, 26 is just a fraction.

If this had been any other city in the world, I probably would have been indifferent this attack, just as many others have already forgotten about it. But two things changed this: I have lived in this city as a child and 26 is a number that is too easy to visualize.

Unlike 9/11, you can easily picture a room full of 26 people, and it's extremely disturbing if you imagine all of those people dead. You soon realize that such a loss of life not only impacts you directly, but the parents, siblings, children, friends, and other relatives of those 26 people. How can you measure such a catastrophic event in the number dead then? The loss of those 26 citizens in July of 2011 probably left hundreds of others distraught. Nearly ten years later, I now understand the true impact of the September 11 attacks on the United States; not only did it emotionally damage hundreds of thousands of people, it left an entire nation of 300 million with an unforgettable mark. The impact of terrorist attacks is insignificant to an individual unless one has been emotionally scarred or has their security compromised. The former has a more prevailing pain, but the latter is what we can eradicate together.

Moving past this point, I remember several days in the aftermath, many were complaining how the government of India had failed to protect them. Terrorism is something that only the government can protect you from, after all, because ordinary civilians do not possess the resources to combat such calamities.

What we quickly forget, though, is that the government is simply a body of citizens looking for the betterment of a particular jurisdiction. The Mumbai police force is one of the most efficient police systems in the world; in fact, throughout the entire situation, many didn't realize that one of the three bombs was disabled within six minutes of discovery. It's easy to scapegoat someone, but it's more difficult for us to individually take accountability for what occurred. How well could you manage a city of 20 million, a population nearly 2.5 times that of New York City? And speaking of NYC, I clearly remember that the Times Square bomb plot in 2010 was foiled not by a government body, but by a vigilant citizen.

There certainly is room for improvement; the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement covers many of these problems riddled in government. But in response, I ask one simple question: how can you expect your government to be flawless when you yourself are flawed? Traffic violations, littering, tax evasion, bribes...the list won't end in India.

And for the North Carolinians: it's illegal to throw a plastic bottle in a trash can. Don't worry, I didn't know that until a few weeks ago either.

The government is as perfect as you choose to obey the laws, no matter how minor they may be. Take responsibility, and don't scapegoat the government, regardless of the situation.