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Ignorance Is No Bliss: The Saga Of The Kirpan

T. SHER SINGH

DAILY FIX

Thursday, May 17, 2012

It was the Spring of 1972. ( My God! It's 40 years already!)

I was studying for my Master’s in English at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, a city balancing precariously on the northern tip of Lake Superior.

Shakespeare was an integral part of our programme, and in preparation for our exams, my friend Paul Paularinne and I had come up with a routine of study.

Having slept during the day, we’d converge each night in the library or at home, and listen to the enactment of a different play each night, thereby focusing on it through study and discussion.

We’d emerge from our Elizabethan stupor midway through the night, around 2:00 or so, hankering for a meal and a coffee. We’d jump into my Karmann Ghia, hop across town to Fort William, where we had become regulars at the 24-hour “T & M Grill”.

One such night, Paul and I were seated, facing each other at a table and digging into our respective Hot Turkey sandwiches, when I noticed something peculiar at a table about 15 feet away, down the aisle running past us. 

“Don’t look around,” I interrupted Paul in a muted tone, “but there’s a chap behaving strangely at a table behind you.”

A somewhat dishevelled man was struggling with his meal - a plate of french fries and gravy. Literally. He had picked up a fistful of fries in his bare hand, mashed them and was now trying to stuff them into his maw.

I could see he was inebriated: he was having difficulty aiming his fist into his mouth, sometimes missing widely and hitting his nose or an eye.

Paul and I continued with our small-talk, but I couldn’t help glancing at the fellow and his antics from the corner of my eye.

I saw him give on trying to negotiate the fist in, and turn to a new strategy. He dropped the food back on the plate, and fumbled around until he was able to pick up his fork in one hand, the knife in the other, and start the process all over again.

The bizarre scene had me mesmerized.

The man looked around and surveyed the room until suddenly his eyes locked into mine. I could almost hear the shutters in his eyes as they tried to focus. At some point, they did.

The sight of a turban and beard through the haze must have been jarring. He shuddered and then leaned over, as if to focus even better.
   
Our conversation petered on for a bit, until I suddenly whispered in urgent tones: “Don‘t look, don‘t look, Paul, but I think the chap is waving his knife at me.”

I could see he was trying to be menacing, but how threatening could a drunk be?

Paul was calm as he patiently heard my running commentary. But imagine his surprise when I suddenly leapt out of my chair, the latter airborne and crashing behind me, and ducked sideways until I fell on my knees onto the floor … as a knife whizzed by right above me and landed at the other end of the room.

Our friend, the bum, had decided that I was a threat and had, without notice of intent, taken aim and launched his missile at me!

The hotel staff and guests, Paul included, pounced on the poor man. The police were called and he was hauled away to the cooler.

Even though I was never in any serious danger that night, I have never forgotten the incident.

I think of it every time, for example, I’m in a restaurant or a steak house, and see  people in the vicinity consuming alcohol like there’s no tomorrow. I watch them, as the evening progresses and their inhibitions take a nose-dive, until some of them have reduced themselves into a state of certifiable stupidity.

All along, they sit with a knife each in front of them, available for personal use.
 
And Then. THEN, if they happen to order a steak, a waiter comes along and picks up the knife and replaces it with an even more lethal weapon: a steak knife!

No one says to himself: Wait a second, this man has drunk himself stupid. Now, should I place a knife in his hands, even as he orders yet another scotch or beer or whatever?

That’s about the state of affairs in every restaurant, bar and eating/drinking joint coast to coast here on the American continents, or Europe, etc.

It puzzles me, therefore, to no end every time I read of opposition to a Sikh wearing his kirpan.

So, it is okay to arm a drunk man in a room crowded - surrounded by others also in different stages of inebriation - with a sharp and lethal knife, and continue to ply him with an endless supply of a debilitating and stupefying drug?

But, it is not okay for a man steeped in spirituality, required by his Faith to wear this article of faith as a symbol of his commitment to serve humanity, to have a kirpan - the same size or less, and certainly less sharp and lethal than a steak knife - held secure on his person, governed by religious stricture that it is not to be ever unsheathed frivolously or carelessly, or used as a weapon?

The only difference I see between the two situations is that the latter belongs to a minority faith, that is, one other than that practised or subscribed to by the drunk who happens to belong to the majority.

Indeed, it is awfully easy to take the peculiarities or idiosyncrasies of your own beliefs for granted, while making a magnified and irrational scrutiny of the practices of others. And passing quick, un-informed and erroneous judgements!

Indeed, security issues should always reign supreme, even over religious observances if necessary.

But let me show you how summarily a majority society glosses over practices which would be seriously questioned in any secular, independent and objective setting. Here are but a few examples:

1   Those of the Jewish and Muslim faiths habitually mutilate their young - infants who are too young to understand, or consent to, the ritual of circumcision.

2   Even though alcohol abuse is unequivocally identified as the worst addiction that plagues society today, it is used as a sacrament in Christian churches. Evidence of abuse of such church supplies by some priests and altar boys, in many cases leading to life-long alcoholism, abounds.

3   Celibacy remains the mainstay of the priesthood in many Christian churches. Cases documenting the resulting paedophilia and the sexual abuse of thousands of children fills up our respective justice systems today.

4   Images of a hideous torture weapon, sometimes even showing the gory details of nails embedded in flesh and bone, blood pouring out, a dying person, are to be found today in public places where young children live, study and play - with no review of the life-long psychological trauma it causes many. I am talking about the Christian crucifix.

None of the above are subject of public scrutiny. For good reason: they represent religious practices that carry with them centuries of values, traditions and intrinsic meaning, all centred around Faith.

Logic, common sense, compassion and a bit of historical knowledge makes it easy for us to be magnanimous over such practices.

Some ask: what if you were attacked, wouldn’t you then use the kirpan in self-defence?

My answer is simple, if I’m under attack and my life is in danger, I’ll pick up anything and everything within reach to defend myself. A chair, a book, a picture frame … Even a pencil! [I actually did once, and managed to cause injury to my attacker with it.]

Does that make a pencil a prohibitable weapon?

I should add here that a kirpan is not worn willy nilly by Sikhs. There are clear guidelines that govern its wearing as an article of faith.

I don’t care what the whackos in our community say, it should not be worn by anyone unless he or she is of mature age. It should not be worn by anyone who is not a full-fledged amritdhari Khalsa. A novice should not be wearing it: it is a FINAL step, not the first one: first, the other four kakkaars, and a demonstrable observance of the rehat maryada (Sikh code of conduct), and then, as a final stage, the wearing of something that brings with it responsibility and accountability.

Anyone who imbibes alcohol or any form of drug cannot wear one.

Anyone involved in spousal, child or senior abuse … No!

Anyone carrying a criminal record for a violent conviction … No!    

There are no if and buts about any of the above.
 
Similarly, Sikhs ask that others who feel qualified to question their religious beliefs, icons and practices, be equally rational and commonsensical.

Invest some thought and logic before you pass judgement.

Educate yourself a bit on the history, context … and facts. Don’t jump to conclusions. 

Stand back and try and see the bigger picture.               

Step into the other’s shoes.

Avoid knee-jerk opinions.

I heard a good soul on the radio the other day ask why Sikhs don’t modernize and get rid of the kirpan.

Without even getting into the discussion of who is truly modern or who isn’t, all I can say is that the suggestion is as ignorant as someone suggesting that it is time, two millennia later, for Christians to get a new logo or symbol.

Or for Hindus to discard their swastika because it is associated with racist overtones.

Each of these suggestions is wrong and ill-thought. 

Ignorance, contrary to the adage, will bring no bliss.                         
 

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