The Crack in Our Mirror

In Kashmir's everyday life, moral shortcuts have become cultural habits.

- Ikkz Ikbal

"Abbu, you always tell me to speak the truth... then why did you lie to the customer today?

That single question from a seven-year-old froze the room. The father looked away, the mother tried to change the topic, and silence filled the space like shame.

The child didn't just ask a question. He exposed a wound we've learned to hide: the gap between what we preach and what we practice.

Modern psychology calls it Cognitive Dissonance, the unease we feel when our actions betray our beliefs.

In simpler words, it's the unrest of the soul when the tongue and heart move in opposite directions.

This conflict plays out every day in the valley.

A teacher encourages honesty yet helps students cheat in exams. A trader condemns corruption but manipulates the scales for profit. A father scolds his son for lying but lies ten times a day himself.

Each contradiction chips away at something sacred: integrity.