Pikit Mata, writes Shweta Bachchan

Pikit Mata: (Filipino) with eyes closed; how you accept the fact that something against your desires must be done.

I learnt at a young age not to trivialize phobias, especially mine. A person in the grip of a phobia is powerless against it -- like Superman near a spot of Kryptonite- human, fallible and scared stiff.

I am phobic about needles; there isn't a flu shot, vaccine or blood draw that hasn't tested the patience of the brave souls who volunteer to accompany me, and the practitioners who administer them. On a scale of one to Gitmo detainee being water-boarded, my reaction is at eleven. It isn't pretty and man, does the fur fly!

So when some well meaning innocent asks you to shut your eyes and count down till it's all done, you comply -- it's quite a neat trick and one that became a part of my repertoire when something essential but undesirable had to be endured. Ever remember shutting your eyes before turning over a graded exam paper, peeling off a band-aid, or pulling out splinters? If yes, then you get the gist.

In a world fraught with the most unimaginable atrocities, perhaps this habit has begun to cost us. None of us today are unaware; there isn't a sphere of our lives that is impervious to the goings-on of this blue planet. The news is everywhere and then some. We are the most well-informed generation ever, and also the most passive. We have covered our eyes towards discrimination, prejudice and intolerance. We have taught our children to turn away from what may be unpleasant, evil is a part of life, we tell them, but it seldom reaches our doorstep, so avert your gaze and let those whom it has befallen deal with it the way they know best.

It isn't uncommon to come across the scene of an accident; cordoned by a crowd of onlookers none of whom will help, this is the worst kind of apathy-voluntary blindness and we have propagated it. The least prepared will be the worst affected. When school rooms and boardrooms aren't above terrorist attacks; we cannot continue to preach "see no evil". An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind but what horror awaits a world that stares with its eyes wide shut?