World we created
This indifference and ingratitude,
The apathy in eyes of each,
Unconcern creeping through every soul,
Didn’t notice the hypocrisy before,
This pretense on the stage,
Covering the duplicity,
Keeping one to himself,
Another for the world’s cage,
Didn’t notice this race before,
Searching his way in the maze,
Thriving on others blood,
To kill the rat,
And take his place.
Didn’t notice these scars before,
Arising from the fountain of terror,
Crushing all preserved humanity,
Leaving deep wounds,
And Reflection of tears in the mirror.
Didn’t notice this world before
Nothing Beyond Hope
Bomb blasts. Bullets. Fire. Blood. Bodies being taken away. Grieving and inconsolable parents. Mournful friends. Candles lit in front of India Gate. Students on peace vigils.
Most of our lives are a series of images, they pass us by like towns on a highway. But sometimes a moment stuns us as it happens and we know that this instant is more than a fleeting image. We know that this moment, every part of it, will live on forever in some form or the other.
This violence, which has literally wounded thousands and symbolically hurt millions, goes on like a story whose end was never written. Parents send their children out into the world like they send young men to war, hoping for their safe return but fearing the worst.
Tennessee Williams once wrote: “We all live in a house of fire. No fire department to call. No way out. Just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns down the house...with us trapped, locked in it.”
This cruelty, this hatred. How did it find us? Did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it? Will things ever be the same again? For some, that moment was supposed to be a celebration for their anniversary, birthday or a promotion. Many had come for a family outing. For others it was just another business routine. But in a second everything they had hoped or planned for turned into ashes.
Where has the essence of humanity gone? Where did the compassion get lost in this power crazy world? What is the root of this hatred that has led people to go so over the edge?
Dictionary defines “human” as “not impersonal and not insensitive.” But given this state of affairs do we have lost the right to call ourselves human. For this terror is highly impersonal and most definitely insensitive.
Somewhere down the line, something has gone so wrong that a person can plan to kill thousands of innocents without feeling even an ounce of sympathy let alone guilt. Katherine Anne Porter once said: “There seems to be a kind of order in the universe... in the movement of the stars and the turning of the Earth and the changing of the seasons. But human life is almost pure chaos. Everyone takes his stance, asserts his own right and feelings, mistaking the motives of others, and his own.”
The chaos arises from the greed of men. Avarice that is insatiable. An intense desire and craving for power that has left them merciless.
I guess Stephen Hawking’s hypothesis that the reason we haven’t found another intelligent life in the universe is that all intelligent life has a tendency to kill off itself, and the fact that we are still surviving means that we are not intelligent enough , is being proved wrong now as we have decided to kill ourselves off and assert our intelligence. For if this kind of cruelty continues, sustenance of life is impossible.
In the movie Equilibrium, the world had witnessed another World War. Due to the degree of destruction, people came up with a drug which would not let anyone feel any emotion - be it love or hatred. They also destroyed the things that could arouse any emotion like books, paintings and all the things that have some sort of sentiment or sensitivity attached to it. The theory behind this was that if one doesn’t feel hate, anger or jealousy, then there would be no wars and thus the human race would continue to survive. Is this what our world is coming to? Is there an alternative to this gloomy future?
In the movie, the people eventually realized that the drugs destroyed even the positive feelings along with the negative ones. These included feelings of love, friendship and brotherhood, without which life became meaningless. Sentiments and emotions are the essence of human character and holding on to them is the only way to secure our future. Therefore all we can do is to cling to the tiniest bits of humanity left, to hope that the world will be humane again. To hope for peace, understanding and harmony.
Is there anything beyond hope?
