Bengaluru: Today, in Colombia, in the referendum to ratify the peace agreement between President Santos and the FARC Group, a narrow margin divided the yes-or-no vote, with 49.8 percent voting in favor and 50.2 percent of Colombians rejecting it.
When one is in victim consciousness, it is hard to understand the benefits of forgiveness. One can only think of revenge and punishment. When the Art of Living took some victims of violence to Havana and made them sit with the FARC, the scenario changed. More such interactions would have helped but the time was too short. It takes some time to make people understand the pact and it has to be done with the spiritual touch.
Juan Carlos Losada, Francisco Moreno Ocampo and team have done a great job in turning the many no’s to a yes. I encourage them to keep healing the hearts and minds of people and not give up hope.
Let us be assured that the FARC will not go back to guns. They have promised me that they will follow the Gandhian principles of non-violence and they are enjoying meditation.