When Every Step Becomes Someone Else’s Wound

What happens when moving forward may hurt someone, but standing still may hurt you? In his column 'From the Silence Within', Santosh Nair reflects on conscience, conflict and the difficult moral spaces where no choice feels completely right.

There are moments when a city becomes so full of people that even the road seems to disappear. You look ahead and see faces. Behind those faces are more faces. The roads look like roofs covered with people. The ground is covered with bodies. There is no room even for one small step. You want to move, but you do not know where your foot can safely land.

I remember the first time I understood that life can become like this. Not because there were too many people around me, but because every direction seemed to carry a responsibility. You stand where you are and think, “Let me not move. At least here I will not hurt anybody.” But then you hear the footsteps of the crowd behind you. If you remain still, someone else may push you down. If you move forward, your foot may touch somebody else’s chest, arm or face. Suddenly even walking becomes a moral question.

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What happens when every choice carries a cost?

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