by Sachin-14, 3 June 2008

How would you feel, if I told you that you had to make a human sacrifice of your child, or be cursed with bad luck?

How would you feel if I told you that you had to be buried alive with your late husband?

Fortunately for us, practices like these have long been left behind. Or have they?

Would you believe me if I told you that elements of these horrific cultures still existed?

Well, I’m afraid they do.

In recent years, India has grappled with the problem of human sacrifice, with certain regions reporting “dozens of sacrifices” over the past five years.

In an incident reported in “The Washington Post” five years ago, an infertile young couple, believing that killing someone else’s son would bring them one of their own, kidnapped and mutilated a young 6-year-old boy. The woman completed the ritual by bathing in the child’s blood.

It is because of ignorance and superstition that brutal acts like this happen.

Indeed, the blank edges of the map have long been filled in; people MUST move on, people MUST open their minds. Only then will other people cease to fear them and eventually respect them.

Just last month, a Hong Kong girl studying at Chinese University committed suicide allegedly because she was forbidden to marry her Indian boyfriend.

We see examples of cultural clashes turned terribly violent every day: in the Middle East, in the former Yugoslavia, in Taiwan, in Hong Kong, the list is endless. In their ugliest form, cultural clashes are full blown racism. In their early stages, they exist as intolerance.

These ancient, inhumane cultures must be left behind if WE are to move on.

It is VITAL that people learn to understand and respect; it is vital that people learn to appreciate other cultures, not only their’s. That can only happen if these cultures evolve.

I believe we can put our differences aside and strive for something greater.

I believe that with mutual respect, we can ALL live in harmony.

I believe in an end to cultural discrimination.

After all, it takes WISDOM to respect and understand others. And at the end of the day, whether you prefer the westerners "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" or the Chinese "an onion a day keeps everyone away," we can all contribute to making this world a better place for all of us.

All you need is an open mind.

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If you want to read more about the ancient practice of human sacrifice, check out these sites: Human sacrifice today Washington Post

Can Education in India Deliver significant Societal Changes? ... by Louis Yau and Scarlett Ho Ria Sahay is a 22 year old MBA graduate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She was born in Bihar, a state located in the Eastern part of India. Bihar is the third most populated state within India, with a majority of the general population living in rural areas. Within India, gender discrimination is a major problem, as women are considered to be inferior to men. This mindset stems in part from quasi-religious beliefs, that only permits men to perform a family's funeral rites, and also from social cultural traditions like arranged marriages, dowry brides, expectations of female purity and the like. Ria's goal is to create educational institutes within her home state of Bihar, with a focus on female education, as she wants more women to have the choices that she had and thus to have the independent means to make choices in their lives and not to depend solely on their husbands. Check out all our blogs in “CURRENT AFFAIRS & FASHION”