Would our world view be altered if belonged to the fringes of society?
We meet children who have never gone to school. Navigation through life and the streets they roam, is about a symbol here and a landmark there. They are treated like adults by the age of six or seven and have to be a contributing member of the household.
By force of habit, I have asked a blind student if she has ‘seen’ a computer. She smiled gently and corrected me by saying she has ‘felt’ one.
There are juveniles who have grown in poverty with no formal education who have never heard of the word ‘rape’. But they have experienced many a form of molestation themselves and seen men force themselves on their mothers.
For some life depends on whether the earth and the skies give them a good crop this season.
For some others, different mental abilities mean that they are never accepted as “normal” in our society.
Outside the mainstream, life is totally different and circumstances can create very different perspectives. But even those who are on the fringes would like to give an account of their lives, to give us an insight into their world.
Most would want to keep their dignity and not compromise their self-respect by blatantly marketing their misery. They would like us, educated folks to think, reflect and act to fix some of the imbalance
We have also met heroes who strive tirelessly for a cause. Doctors have opened hospitals and schools for tribals in the middle of a jungle. A lady, a green crusader has planted over 40000 trees. A Zen master and spiritual guru, has a family of 500+ children who have been forsaken by their own. Inspiring, determined and with a strong conviction to correct the ills of our society, the story of these individuals will serve as motivation to us.
Lastly, we also develop a view on the impediments to progress, greed and corruption, crime and injustice and inefficient social policies and poor implementation of welfare measures. This often runs counter to popular discourse propagated by paid media and is seldom brought before the audience.
We will hence try to bring before you here alternate thoughts, stories of heroes and a representation of lives of the fringes; their hopes, challenges, dreams and difficulties. Keeping with our core purpose of the One Good Step platform, we hope to be a bridge to give you a genuine and honest view of the alternate and to show you a different world view.
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