By: McKay Savage
It’s a horrific and brutal image – a 23 year old girl, on her way home from a movie, gang-raped by six men who used, among other things, an iron bar to inflict deadly injury in the most inhumane way possible. And yet, like other brutal images – bloodied slaves, Nazi concentration camps and even the cross of Jesus – the rape of this young girl may go down in history as the beginning of a revolution.
At the core of this revolution is a generation of young people, male and female, at odds with their elder counterparts. Gender equality is a relatively new idea in much of the world, but this generation is catching on fast. They refuse to allow an international news story about a 23 year old girl being raped and murdered to simply be swept under the rug. they refuse to accept that “boys will be boys” or that “she must have asked for it. They are repulsed by the fact that they have sitting parliament members who are facing rape charges of their own.
For this group of young protesters, the old male-centric ways simply will not do. Even the threat of death penalty against the girl’s six attackers can’t quell their protests. Why? Because this is not about the rape of one girl. It’s not about her six attackers. This is about a fundamental cultural shift that is taking place – that must take place – in India and in many other parts of the world.
By and large, this revolution is being led by young women, supported by young men and discouraged by the very leaders, mentors and teachers who should be supportive. These brave cultural warriors are risking their relationships, their careers and even their lives fighting not for themselves, but for future generations. They are the Freedom Fighters of the developing world – on a mission to right a systematic wrong.
It won’t be easy. Revolutions never are. But as the body of that 23 year old girl was cremated in New Delhi the other day, those ashes may just represent the beginning of something great – the fire of a generation of people who refuse to accept the status quo and who are passionate about ensuring justice for all people.
Whether they know it or not, these young people are walking very closely to the heart of God for his people, his kingdom and his world. I, for one, will be walking with them.