Lately, I haven't been bothered by world issues except for the Gaza conflict. Oh, and there's the first black President of the United States too, congratulations to him on stamping his name in the pages of history, I bet the future history textbooks would mention his name alot. It's amazing, who would've thought the US would be headed by a black guy but he has a lot of work to do, I wish him luck on that.

The word "boycott" is used much lately and even I was dragged into it, through discussion. My stand was, it's a bit too late to boycott anything and rather than wasting energy promoting and encouraging boycott, people should direct all that energy into supporting local brands or alternative brands.

I tried to picture the event from both sides: those who agree with the boycott and those who disagreed.

For those who agree with the boycott, their main reasons would be:

Those who disagree will say:

I am against violence in any manner used on innocent civilians and especially children. No child should live through such trauma and atrocities.

I do not condone the act of Israel using their superior military power against a small group of rebels nor do I agree with the act of Hamas firing rockets.

I find it saddening whenever I discuss this issue, people would attack me for not looking at the Israelites side and supporting Hamas when I was only trying to reason out why people opt boycotting. I have always believed in delving into the views of both sides before giving my stand or opinion as I think it is only fair that everyone's view are taken into account.

My view on the conflict? I put both sides at fault, plus the Great Britain for their agreement with both the Arabs and Zionists which personally (there's no professionalism in here) I think, is the cause of all this. The Muslims should do like what the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did during his time, agreed to a truce even though the conditions were blatantly not in the Muslims favour. I think this was the Hudaibiyah agreement, if I'm not mistaken.

Like I've said before, people should focus their energy on promoting local brands or alternative brands at least and the local brands should take this to their advantage. Rather than saying "Boycott *insert name of country*!!!", they should instead say, "Buy local brands or use this products instead of *insert name of boycotted products*". The local brands should also consider a rebranding strategy, in my country, they are obviously targeting the Muslim consumers only with names like Safi, Najwa, etc, etc. They should widen their focus, I myself have used some of these local brands and they worked as fine as the international brands.

This rage of boycotting amongst MOST of the Muslim community are blind rage, they never did their research on the companies which were mentioned by various sources (and disputable ones too). I'm sure that more than 70% would resume using the boycotted products once the coverage on the conflict subsides. These people don't have a strategy for a systematic boycott and they forget that the Palestinians are comprised not only of Muslims but also other religions too, though their numbers have been greatly reduced since the past 60 years.

The non-muslims in my country, from those I've encountered, would care less about the conflict because it doesn't mean anything to them, even if it meant children being shot at. Why do this happen? It's the Muslims fault, they act as if this is a religous thing when it is not, and most of them label Jews as Zionists, gladly label them as pigs, curse them openly, damn them to hell, calling them the root of all evil and whatnot. This is the reason why the war will never end.

I will openly condemn them and tell them off when I see people condemning the Jews. The Jews have had their share of oppression, they were persecuted and hunted down during the anti-Semitic times and the Holocaust. It is the Zionist movement which are the ones governing Israel now (of whom should take the blame too) and they are only a minority in the Jewish community (uhh, I think so, I have to check again). People should not label the Jews as pigs and whatnot, they also condemn the act of the Zionists oppressing the Palestinians. The mindset of most of the Muslims in my country thinks that all Jews are at fault, which is very worrying so to speak.

The Muslims, who are the followers of the religion of peace should condemn all war, and not only the ones affecting their brethren. During the South Ossetia conflict, not many Muslims I know condemn the war, some didn't even know that it was happening. There weren't any funds raised for the South Ossetians, no posters going against the war, no demonstrations and this in a way, showed that Muslims only care for their own kin. This point has been used by many to attack the Muslims and I do think that Muslims should fix this issue.

Through various discussions, I've changed my stand to boycotting is not too late to be done but that we should focus more on developing local brands.

Hitherto, everyone should work towards peace and try to stop the war, taking sides will not work as the fault of this current conflict lies in both sides. People should think about the children, the mothers, the elderly, and the innocent civilians. They should think about humanity, this is no more an issue of religious differences, this is for the future of the generations to come. We do not want more children growing up in rubbles, we do not want children turning shrapnels and empty bullets into toys, we do not want more children fearing whether they could live through the day.

I remembered when I was younger and much smaller, I really wanted to be Superman or Ultraman, I liked the thought of beating bad guys and saving the world from evil people and surprisingly, that dream never did fade away from me.

The recent terrorist attack(s) on Mumbai was one of the times when people wanted a superhero, as at that point of time, the average citizen would feel helpless and all they could do is despair and dread.

It's like you're going for a normal shopping routine with your family in your favorite supermarket and suddenly you see people running, screaming and they fall down... one by one.

The next thing you know the nozzle of a gun was at your face and as you turn, you see one of your family member on the floor... soaked in blood.

No!!! This can't be happening!!!
Why? Why us?

I can't imagine the feelings running through my body if I was caught in that situation.

Pain?
Confused?
Angry?
Sad?

The torment of family members who got wind of the news would be even worse, not knowing what's happening is the most dreadful thing anyone would feel.

You sit at your comfortable home, eating your favorite food and as you switch the television on, you saw the news covering on terrorist attacks. As you lament how such things can happen, you picked up one information from the screen, the location of the attack.

Your brother went there two days ago for a trip.

You scrambled for your mobile, fumbling through your contacts and as you dialled the number, you hear nothing but some stupid automated voice answering you, you hang up.

Dialled again, same response.
Dialled again, same response.
Dialled again, same response.

Fear creeps into your heart and knowing that you don't know anything makes it worse. You slumped into your seat, thinking, despairing and you try to calm yourself but small negative voices in your head poison your mind, making every single movement a mistake.

Is he alive?
Is he dead?
No! He can't be dead! He's alive, he should be!!
But that's his hotel they just blew up!!!
NO!!! He must live, he must... somehow.

Imagine as the minutes, the hours, the days pass by while you still desperately do everything you can to find out how your brother is doing?

All you wanted to know is if he's alive.

This is just as much as I can imagine, the actual emotions would be a hundred times greater than what I described. Little children would want their favorite superheroes to save their daddy or mommy from the bad people and adults could only wish that they could do something to prevent the catastrophe.

If only Superman was real

Yet we are helpless, all we could do is hope and wish.

These terrorists again dare admitted that they are of the religion of peace, I don't see how they are abiding to the ways of their religion in the manner of their conduct. It is amazing how humans can lose all rationality when they are brainwashed and psyched up to the extend of killing in the name of God.

I do not see the logic in teaching children to hate people of other religions and demeaning the so called "infidels" in the syllabus.

How dare they use religion as a tool of war, how dare they poison the minds of children, how dare they take innocent lives so easily?!! They have twisted the teachings of the religion of peace to their own profits and I can see why the image of this religion has literally gone down to the drain.

Humanity needs a change, fast.

A moment of silence for those who died in the attack.