All was at peace in the town, outwardly, yet one could hear the rumbles that ran deep within. The tinderbox of communal violence was ticking away. Finally it exploded. This did not happen unexpectedly. There were clear signs that the two communities who had lived in amity, for centuries, had suddenly become estranged, drawn apart. Most people, on either side, didn’t try to fight the growing division. Nor did they make efforts to strengthen the unity forged by the two communities, a unity that had withstood all tribulations for several centuries.In the past, each community accepted that its path to God was different from the one followed by members of the other faith. But all of them agreed that both paths led them to the one Ultimate Truth. That belief made them tolerant, nay, even appreciative of the tenets of religions outside their own. They agreed that all religions spoke of kindness, charity, human brotherhood, truth, love for every living thing. That made it possible for all sections of society to maintain camaraderie and friendship. Members of one community took part in the festivals of the other community. In moments of joy, they shared the revelries, had fun together. In moments of grief or travail, they stood shoulder to shoulder with each other.All these ended about five years back. The man who wreaked the havoc was an aspiring politician. He sensed victory would not be his unless he played the communal card. A crack, once it appears, expands its vista. This was so in the town. Every move of one community became suspect in the eyes of a large number of members of the other community. They stopped talking to each other about their suspicions. This led to the raising of a wall of antipathy, the construction of a wide moat that made it impossible for most members of the two communities to get together to find an answer to the problem.The tinderbox of communal violence finally exploded. The sane referred to the violence as the Days of the Jackal. Jackal was the code name for the aspiring politician. The wise men got a shock when the Jackal came out into the open, once a sort of tenuous peace was restored, to actively plead for peace. “How can he do that?” they asked each other.“He can because he knows that peace is for the wise. He is also clear that he shall never let the people get wise to his grand plans. He knows his Schumacher well,” explained the oldest among them. “Schumacher said: nobody is truly working for peace unless he is working primarily for the restoration of wisdom. The Jackal is clear on one count. He shall work for peace, but shall not try to restore sanity, knowing full well the wisdom latent in Schumacher’s wise tip.”
