“D”IVISION

My introduction to Mathematics was through addition and subtraction: the operations deemed to be perfect to be the foundation stone for a child into the fascinating world of numbers from where she can step into the whole new world of Algebra and Calculus.

When I could perform the operations involving the carry-over figures, I was given a Certificate to proceed with my Mathematical journey into the geographies of Multiplication and Division. When I reminisce over those times, I feel like the Division operation can be labelled as the Voldemort of the numeric world for there was a lot of enigma surrounding this operator. If any student could perform the same in the ruled notebook correctly, she was rewarded with a chocolate, in my classroom sessions at the very least.

However, as I grew up, I realized that my whole life had been based on a lie, a fear while in reality, there was nothing to be petrified of.

Why you ask?

Because division is as easy as breathing!

What do we do? How?

So many questions I tell you!

Let’s do one thing! I’ll quote some illustrations and you can figure out the solution best fit to the question statement you are trying to figure out.

Suspicious of or annoyed with your neighbours, get a wall built separating your house/ nation from theirs. It might not be as mighty as the Great Wall of China but it can result into unprecedented divides.

Need an identity of your own “community”, what’s better than going on a hunger strike outside the house of senior politician or a high ranking official or a bureaucrat maybe. The matter should be escalated enough to capture the fancy of many who are ready to pitch in or maybe even take up arms to help you in a smooth transition to the achievement of a common objective.

Wary of the religion of other, demand a whole region with a clear demarcation, for yourself. You’ve got media, social media and what not. You just need a strong voice, these media can help you reach the multitude in a jiffy.

You are getting the point, right?

In simpler terms, it means dividing your target audience into believers and non-believers.

And then winning over the other side gradually to create a strong foothold of yours.

And voila!
Nothing can stop you now.

More instances?

Well! The society is divided into:

Haves and have-nots.

The thinkers and the doers

Black and White

Those belonging to a religion different than yours

Those belonging to a geography far away from yours

Those belonging to an ideology separate from your school of thought

Courtesy : Google Images

But in the process of creating divides, aren’t the below lost somewhere in the transition:

Co-development

Cooperation

The grey areas

The one God

The mother Earth

The common inquisition

It’s easy to take up arms, create anarchy, involve the gullible people struggling with their unheard pleas in your selfish quests because it’s easy to create a divide.

A separation that grows deeper and deeper with the passage of time and festers like a wound.

And, we generally wake up from our slumbers at the point of no return.

Sometimes, I think it was better that we had created a kind of enigma around division, something beyond our reach and capacity. Because unlike the other operators, “Division” was always meant to create frontiers. Even two negatives make a positive but no positive ever came out of division.

My itchy fingers would take your leave today with the food for thought. Reader’s agreement and disagreement are given for any article but I think food for thought might be the common area all of us can start off from. After all, freedom of choice and rationale go hand in hand right?

This is the 3rd post in series for #AtoZChallenge.