Dear goanet readers Having just returned home from a weekend of wining, dining and champagne sundowners, my weekend was extended to another enjoyable day musing on goanet posts (over strong black coffee and a slice of dodol) especially those on the "caste" system.
When goanet postings mentioned Catholicism and the caste system, my mind reflected on the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John recording the birth, life and death of Christ. The website www.jesuscentral.com shows the structure of the community in which Christ lived and it is, surprisingly, very similar to that of our caste system embedded in the culture of our community. Quote: During the time of Christ, there was a very large disparity between rich and poor. The upper class was made up of the temple priests and priestly aristocracy (including the Sadducees – a Jewish sect), The middle class was comprised of traders and merchants, artisans (stonecutters, masons, sculptors) and craftsman (metal, wood, cloth dye). The Pharisees (another Jewish sect), sages, scribes, and teachers were also a part of the middle class. The lower class was made of laborers (weavers, stone carriers, slaves (non-Jewish person taken into slavery because of debt), and the unemployable (lepers, blind, insane, crippled, etc.). Unquote As followers of Christ, we can learn from him the way he dealt with such prejudices. Firstly, he chose a number of those nearest to him, his disciples, from fishermen and not from the most learned in the land. Secondly, he addressed behavioural differences between the upper and lower classes through his parables (as we are constantly reminded at daily mass readings) and through his recorded reactions to the various incidents in his life. That is not all. Perhaps the greatest lessons we can learn from Christ is how he faced and dealt with the huge challenges from the leaders of the time (the upper class) as well as how he faced and dealt with huge challenges from his disciples (most from the lower class), the most challenging being with Peter on whom he built his church. Many of us, including myself, dearly wish that the inherited "caste" system had never existed among us at all but if it is continuing we definitely need to work collectively to root it out and ensure that it flows out of our lives into the Mandovi River right now. There is no place for it in our community any more or any reason whatsoever for it to continue. Unfortunately, the residue of the prolonged practice of the caste system by our ancestors shows up in the behavioural differences that exist among us today. However, instead of continually bleating about it, let us rise above these differences and move on. We can either continue to be a slave to this system or set ourselves free. Rose Fernandes Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom 17 April 2012
