Left Speechless

Left Speechless

1987 2 February 4-5 Left Speechless (525) On the 20th of February, 1980, The Hindustan Times reported the incident of a three-wheeler scooter driver leaving his vehicle in a no-parking area. He was given a warning there and then by a traffic inspector using a loud-speaker, but seeing no traffic police in the vicinity he paid no heed. Little did he realise that his every move was being picked up on closed-circuit television.

This is a new system of traffic control now in use in many cities of the world, functioning in much the same way as the thief-detection devices in big department stores in Europe and America. Television cameras are placed at vantage points on roads, enabling a traffic inspector, who is far from the scene of action, to survey the entire scene on a video screen. He accordingly directs the movement of traffic through a loudspeaker system, and can promptly admonish anyone infringing the traffic regulations.

In the New Delhi incident, the warning kept coming through loud and clear to the scooter driver, but it was not until a policeman was sent by the traffic inspector to arrest him that he realized it was something to be taken seriously. He was then taken to the control room where he protested to the traffic inspector that he had not been parked in a prohibited’ area, that he had just dropped a passenger and was about to move on. Seeing that he was determined to stick to this blatant lie, the inspector played back the whole video recording showing all of the driver’s movements from the time he stopped his vehicle to the time the policeman apprehended him. He saw himself walking around in a carefree fashion, chatting to friends, finally arguing with the policeman and re-starting his scooter so as to give the impression that he was really on the move. Up to that point, he had stoutly denied the inspector’s accusations. But seeing himself on video, he was stunned into silence – a tacit admission of his guilt. In the words of The Hindustan Times reporter, he was simply “left speechless.”

Just as the driver was left speechless on seeing a video recording of his movements, so all men will be struck dumb when a recording of their actions is “played back” to them in the life hereafter. In this world people are called upon to account for themselves, but treat the claims of justice lightly. They do not grasp the reality that this situation will not last.

Science has shown that man’s words and deeds are imprinted in the cosmos - such is God’s universal recording system. In the next life, when God brings Justice to humanity, He will “replay” this recording. Everyone will see himself on a cosmic screen and it will be plain for everyone to see what he actually was, and what he was pretending to be. Oppression, exploitation and hypocrisy will be shown up for what they really are. People who have denied the truth in this world and donned a mask of imposture will see themselves in the harsh light of truth Just as the scooter driver did and, like him, will be left speechless.