Opportunity or Tragedy - Goa

In Goa; the so called State of the States, we are aware of so many serious wrong doings in our respective areas; by specific politicians at state/municipal/panchayat level, specific mine owners, many mega-project builders & worse still, even few corrupt religious leaders, who abuse their highly respected positions & trust of their people, for selfish interests; and many of us blindly follow these specific religious leaders. The weakest people in the society are often the most exploited & suppressed, by such wrong doings.

But I think that the even bigger tragedy is that there are still so many Goans (both in Goa & Outside) who appear cold & unconcerned. One key reason is selfishness with the “perceived comfort” that the issues don’t affect them but these very people would surely act, if they themselves were threatened and would then expect others to support or sympathise with them!! The other reason is that many are handcuffed by their own illegalities, corruption, greed, vested interests & links with specific corrupt politicians.

Also, there are some Overseas Goans who are doing wonders for Goa, but there are many others who just have “an elated sense of a higher status” with their foreign countries citizenship/residence; they have forgotten about “where they came from” and the land of their birth/ancestors; surely they can give back something to help realize Goa’s true potential with their Global Best Practices, ideas, experiences, skills etc; and perhaps enable Goa to have much better living standards than in their overseas/adopted countries. To quote Norman Cousins “The Tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we live”

Arwin Mesquita, UAE.