Reflection: Toronto, Wainberg, and Tagore

August 23, 2006

Dear Forum:

As I reflect on all of what happened in Toronto last week, these are the few

lines that keep popping up in my mind:

" Mr. Harper, you have made a mistake that puts you on the wrong side of history.

The role of the prime minister includes the responsibility to show leadership on

the world stage. Your absence sends a message that you do not regard HIV/AIDS as

a critical priority. Clearly, all of us here tonight disagree with you. " Dr.

Mark Wainberg, Co Chair, International AIDS Conference, 2006, at the opening

ceremony on 13 Aug 2006.

" What kind of a world do we live in when the life of an African child or an

Asian child is worth so much less than the life of a Canadian child? "

, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General on HIV AIDS to Africa at the

Closing Ceremony on 18 Aug 2006.

" .....…Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert

sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by Thee to ever-widening

thought and action – Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country

awake " . Rabindranath Tagore, 1910/Gitanjali:

I keep pondering on these words by two eminent Canadians, who are proud and

forthright about their place in their homeland and equally steadfast on their

right to express themselves. In contrast, I see the words of Tagore echoing ever

more faintly across the expanse of nearly a century in the land of his birth.

If India’s brilliant sons and daughters, her scientists and teachers, do not

stand up and call a spade a spade, whether it be in the arena of health, or any

other facet of our national being, they will have done the nation and themselves

a huge disservice.

As we live in the 60th year of our independence, I think we have a lot more of

speaking up to do.

I am sure we may not all agree on all things, but I am also equally sure our

collective public silence is not going to get us any nearer to the truths

either.

With guilt,

Bobby

(Dr. Bobby )

e-mail: <bj@...>

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