Apropos of the news story “Nine bird species vanish from Kathmandu Valley” (THT, May 16, Page 3), the disappearance of birds is not at all surprising. With unchecked migration of people into the valley, and destruction of land, water sources, greenery, topography to make way for their dreams and demands for houses, transportation, water and food, it was just a matter of time before our precious ornithological world suffered irreparable damage. But for the financial and technical assistance from our friends around the world, our other flora and fauna heritage too will disappear sooner than later. With houses and hotels growing up all around the Chitwan and other national parks, it is not difficult to imagine what will happen to our rich animal kingdom in a decade from now. The sad fact is in the absence of knowledge and literacy about animal rights, Nepali people in general do not consider animals and plants as anything more than a nuisance or food. It will take a lot of patience, money and technical resources on the part of international bodies and experts to protect and save our birds and animals for our posterity. All we can do is to teach the world how we can transform the once amazing natural and cultural melting pot into a disastrous urban cauldron for political expediency.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Teaching

One song touched a deep chord inside me during 2,561th Buddha Jayanti, “Jaha chhan Buddha kaa aankha...” (Where Buddha’s eyes are everywhere…). Soon I realized that life is worthless if one fails to realize the visions of truth, compassion, peace, tolerance, humanity, forgiveness, kindness, gentleness, humbleness, simplicity, non-violence, harmlessness, integrity, and many more. Peace of mind is the key to live a meaningful and worthy life as well as to enjoy precious life to the fullest. For mental peace, we need to inculcate a remarkable sense of love, affection and compassion with boundless devotion and dedication to humanity. The key to mental peace is to help sufferers who are in dire need of help. You can never get pleasure and happiness by hurting or harming others. Just because someone has harmed you it doesn’t mean that you too have to harm others. The way forward is not revenge, but forgiveness. We must never hurt anyone because we may never know what sorts of mental trauma they may go through. The next important teaching of Gautam Buddha is that we need to forgive the ones who hurt us not because they deserve forgiveness, but because we deserve peace of mind. Every one of us needs to realize the moral philosophy of a saying that “not all pain is physical and not all wounds are visible.” That’s why, we need to act responsibly and think several times before harming, abusing or bullying others. Only by spreading the messages of peace, compassion and integrity, will it be possible for us to follow the path of Lord Buddha and make our life meaningful.

Sanjog Karki, Tansen