Are we still Human?

I was watching the news channel during the recent Cauvery water agitation, and there was wide coverage of the after-effects of the Supreme Court ruling.

Burning trucks, buses, vandalism and physical abuse of individuals was being beamed and it was a sorry state of affairs. Life had come to a standstill and the general public was subject to a sense of fear and uncertainty in Bengaluru city. Violence was spilling over to other parts too. Even Chennai city witnessed vandalism inflicted on businesses being run by Kannadigas and as per reports the same was being repeated in Bengaluru too against Tamil business establishments.

What struck me was the statement by the news anchor of the conflict between the Kannadigas and the Tamilians, she was repeatedly emphasizing on these two communities.
It was at this moment the story of the group of pigeons came to my mind, which I had recently read on Facebook.

Apparently a group of pigeons had to keep shifting their residence from a church to a mosque and a temple, as each time some renovation work was being undertaken prior to a festival and this caused them disturbance. Finally they housed themselves on the top of a monument and as they were perched proudly above, one of the baby pigeons noticed a communal riot going on below. Out of curiosity and concern, the baby enquired from the mother about the disturbance. The mother shook her head sadly and replied.

'They are human beings, but change their identity when it suits them, people who pray in the church are known as Christians, the people who pray in the mosques are known as Muslims and the temple worshippers are Hindus'.

'But why don't they just call themselves human beings? Because when we were in each of those places it didn't change who we were, we remained pigeons, so should it be in their case too.'
'Very true my child, the difference is that we have experienced God and live in an elevated place peacefully. They are yet to feel the presence of God and therefore indulge in meaningless violence'.

I have absolutely no idea as to the origin of this story, but it has a powerful message. Where has our humanity disappeared? At the drop of a hat we divide ourselves into caste and regions, forgetting the human values we possess or tend to ignore, allowing our selfishness and parochial mindset to take over our actions. We allow individuals with vested interests to dictate terms and disrupt our life.

Do we need pigeons to tell us what we have actually become?