The Hindu Business Line : Living a Pearl of a life

But Danny is dead. A fact that many would have reconciled to by now. However, when a whole page of "letters to the editor" stares at me from last Thursday's Asian Wall Street Journal, I am tempted to go over it all again.

"We have to fight to keep our calm in moments like these," Norman writes from Jamaica. "This is exceedingly difficult when we face ignorance and bigotry." Something relevant to Gujarat and Ayodhya too.

"There are defined limits to the games and shadow boxing with us journalists," says Nik Gowing of BBC World. "Taking a life was never part of the chess game." Then, there is Lisa of Seattle who fumes: "It sounds like they took out the wrong guy — he was America's poster child for success: Smart, creative, endearing and hard-driving."

A bunch of school-children write: "We are a class of high-school juniors and seniors studying world religions at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, Conn. Every day we begin our class with prayers and intentions. Ever since Daniel Pearl was abducted, we have included him and his family in our daily prayers... "

Irfan K.Ali, CEO of Juldi Inc, concedes that he is ashamed of the brutal murder, as an American of Pakistani origin. "In Islam, to take a life is likened to talking the lives of the whole of mankind," explains Shareefa of London. Insiyah of Knox College writes: "Our journalism class discussed the tragic death. We asked ourselves: Where exactly do we draw a line between a journalist's responsibility to break a story, and the subsequent danger that is often involved in this endeavour? We couldn't come up with the answer."

According to Bailey Morries-Eck of the Reuters Foundation, Danny was the victim of people who don't understand the role of journalists. But such people are everywhere.

Jeff Siddiqui of Lynnwood, Washington is forthright: "As a fellow human, a husband and a father, as a Muslim and a Pakistani, I want to be sure the world understands that the act of killing him was no more representative of Muslims or Islam than the Holocaust represented Christians."

Then, there is a touching letter from Eric D. Greenberg of Washington: "As a free person, it is my responsibility to be informed and think critically about the world. But to exercise this freedom, I must rely on others to pursue facts and to communicate to me information about the places I cannot reach and events that would otherwise be unknown. The newspaper that lands each morning at my curb brings to me the product of that dedication, talent and bravery of men and women like Daniel Pearl. And so too, his murder brings terrorism to my doorstep, and is an attack on my freedom. Please know that your readers have also suffered a loss, for they have killed our reporter too."

Mariane Pearl and Danny's family have established the Daniel Pearl Foundation to support causes that inspired his life and work, promote cross-cultural understanding and prevent hate-based violence. Long live Danny.

hindubusinessline@hotmail.com

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Living a Pearl of a life