God, fathers and godfathers

By now I am convinced godfathers are heavenly creatures living on earth. They are visible, yet invisible; real, yet unreal, people, who like the gods of Olympus, shuffle the lives of mere mortals like a deck of cards. They take kids from the street and turn them into reign of terror. It is amazing how menacing monsters move at their beck and call. By the way, these godfathers are not those who serve as sponsor for a child at a baptism. We are talking about the kingpins of crime, the dons of devilry, the lords of the underground.

If you think, godfathers really work like magic. Now you see them, now you do not. For a long time now, we have been talking about them in our social discourses without being sure who they are. We know they exist, but we do not see them. Others take the blame for crimes they do and tantrums they throw, but godfathers always go scot-free. These are men of exceptional skills, people who sit in the background and pull the strings.

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But hell, I cannot help wishing what I just said. I wish godfathers were foster fathers, each adopting a child and raising that child to become a successful man. Wishful thinking, I agree. But think for a minute, if each godfather were a responsible guardian, giving books to his ward instead of guns, teaching him truth, honesty, respect, kindness, patience and tolerance, convincing him to do the same to another child in his turn when he grew up. Imagine what would have been the multiplier effect!

Here is couple of taglines from the movie The Godfather III. "All the power on earth can't change destiny", says one. Another is: "Real power can't be given. It must be taken". Godfathers are, if anything, shadowy characters, who thrive at once, on their warped sense of power and destiny. They are the Dr. Jekylls and Mr. Hydes, the duplicitous characters, who wobble between light and shadow, between courtesy and cruelty, between pride and prejudice, between giving and taking. They are guerilla leaders in a secret war, the war in which they would like to win from hiding, destroying good with evil, light with darkness.

In Peter Pan, a children's book written by James Mathew Barrie, it is said that every time a child is unhappy, a fairy drops dead. People drop dead every time a godfather is unhappy, every time he grudges or seeks vengeance, every time he likes to deal with the world on his own terms. These are unforgiving men, who must instantly settle their scores, leaving nothing to chance, fate or nature, ruthlessly banishing those who stand in their way, their hearts pumping venom in vicious rage.

These godfathers are a class under themselves, a kind of power traction between criminals and politicians, people who are more cerebral than the musclemen and more muscular than the politicians, a half-way house between terror and tact. The godfathers are feudal throwback in the age of democracy. They cultivate power because power cultivates them. Sometimes they overlap; the muscleman and the godfather, or the godfather and the politician are rolled together in the same man.

In The Godfather III, Vincent Mancini tells Don Lucchesi that he does not understand finance and politics. Don Lucchesi wants to know if Vincent understands guns, and when Vincent says yes in response, Don Lucchesi explains that Finance is gun and politics is knowing when to pull the trigger. The godfathers understand all three-- guns, finance and politics, but they also understand loyalty on top of everything. They are ferocious men with fierce sense of justice, and each of them needs a trusted advisor or consiglieri.

Be all that as it may, I cannot stop thinking of my wish. The godfathers are men of considerable influence, people who can impress others, people who are feared and obeyed, qualities which are useful in raising children. They would have been great foster fathers, guardians who could take care of orphans or abandoned children, send them to schools, discipline them, give them guidance, money and hope. They could have made engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and scientists out of these children. The godfathers could have done us proud.

In The Godfather II, Kay Corleone informs Michael Corleone that she had an abortion, not a miscarriage and it was a son. She killed it because it must all end, although she knew he could not forgive her with that Sicilian thing going on for over 2000 years. Now that Sicilian thing is going on around us, and we are aborting our children by shooting them in contrived encounters. No, I am not saying it is wrong to do that. But it is sad that this is how it has to happen, that we have to do away with our young men like rabid dogs are put to sleep. It is a shame.

This is where I have got problems with the godfathers, because they are neither gods nor fathers although they pretend to be both. As the pictures of criminals keep appearing in the newspapers, young men fallen on their faces, their blood-stained bodies numbed by death, they remind us of Attila the Hun who had eaten his own sons. No, not once I mean to say that it is wrong to eliminate those who have no respect for the rule of law. But what about those who raise these men and induct them to the left hand of law, those who duck when, one by one, these men are getting hunted down?

In my opinion, this is where the whole thing fizzles out like bacteria are destroyed without attacking the breeding ground. This is where it might end up being a futile exercise, as the godfathers will raise fresh crops of executioners, who will do what they are told. This is where nothing might change in the end despite so many scandals of execution without trial.

A disillusioned Michael Corleone resents in The Godfather III: "The higher I go, the crookeder it becomes." This is a scandal that exists in the very heart of human glories. We are crooked in high places, and that is where God, fathers and godfathers are lined up in a hierarchy.

The luckless ones who are being slain like pests and rodents also came from God just like the rest of us. They were also born to fathers who raised them with lots of expectations just like the rest of us. But our paths parted with them on the crossroads where we stayed with God and fathers, and they walked away with the godfathers.

I am not so worried about the human rights like others. Desperate times bring desperate measures. Even the most civilized nation is holding and killing people without trial. But I must say we owe it to those who are being killed. We must search and destroy their godfathers. Those of us who are guided by conscience, it is the only thing to worry about.

Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.