Delayed -action bomb

"It takes at least a couple of decades to realize that you
were well taught. All true education is a delayed-action bomb
assembled in the classroom for explosion at a later date. An
educational fuse of 50 years long is by no means unusual."

This quote by Kenneth D. Gangel set me thinking. I'm trying to relate it to events unfolding around us - especially those that undermine, destabilize and are detrimental to our secular fabric - whether they occur in Jammu & Kashmir or in Orissa. Human life seems to have no value to us - the fact that someone belongs to a certain community, religion, region, language group determines their position, status and even security in a country like ours is distressing. How 'religious' are we when we kill because someone has chosen a different way to experience the divine or when that way is not the same that we have chosen to tread upon. Are we not merely 'in religion' and not really religious when such horrendous acts are committed? Why can't we exercise restraint even when religious passions are aroused in us? Are we caught up in fundamentalism so much so that we do not know the difference between being religious and being fanatical. It is time educational institutions played a vital role in strengthening India's secular tag. Even if it were to be a delayed-action bomb we need such bombs that will bring us together, closer to one another than those that will kill us with hatred.