One Step Forward

We often lament the state of our gurdwaras but we should just as often stop and think about how much we have accomplished.

Tonight I had a chance to visit the famous Ontario Khalsa Darbar (aka Dixie) Gurdwara in Mississauga/Brampton, Ontario. On a frigid Friday night in December, the place was packed with sangat and programs.

In one hall, a Hindu Panjabi family was having a bhog for a deceased elder. On the other side a gurmat sangeet teacher was having a kirtan for her daughter with beautiful kirtan being sung in raag by her many young students. In the adjoining halls, the United Sikhs organization was having their 2nd Annual Global Sikh Civil Rights Conference with tonight's opening session focusing exclusively women's issues. Upstairs, Harmeet Singh was holding his usual Friday session with hundreds of youth and their families. And to top this off Bhai (no longer Sant) Niranjan Singh Jawadi Kalan was performing kirtan to a packed hall in the main hall. Almost every program was in English or being translated into English on the screens.

So while we can (and should) continue to critically analyze the hardware (physical structures) and software (programs/initiatives) of our Sikh institutions, we need to simultaneously recognize when progress is being made.

Growing up I would have killed to have been a part of each of those individual programs happening at Dixie Gurdwara tonight (well maybe not the bhog) and today all of those functions were happening on the same day under the same roof.

On many days, it seems like we're moving two steps back, but tonight I saw at least one step forward.