Is it just me?
Recent news has been getting to me yet again. In a way it is a healthy sign that at least I am not desensitised. I don’t think I will allow myself to be desensitised again. I had a phase before, especially around Covid-19 and after and then I worked really hard to strengthen my mind and spirit. If there is one thing I cannot live without, it is feeling deeply. If you have ever been touched by depression and come out to the other side, you will protect that aspect of human life even more fiercely.
I know the world isn’t ending just yet, but many people in it are surely dying as we speak. Their worlds have ended. There are people on their way to end those worlds— who feel that it is okay to do so. They treat human lives as collateral damage because their ego is on a power trip and justifies their action.
Are we still going to pretend that we do not have blood on our hands as a democracy? I mean, we may be heading towards whatever different governance model but if we have even a drop of humanity left in us, we have to take responsibility and hold accountability. Irrespective of our religious, political, socio-economic identity affiliations, I hope we agree that all life is to be preserved and respected— and if you do not, this post is not for you and I am not your person.
I don’t see the point in blame games when it is about life and death, war and peace. You are either for it or not for it. I especially do not trust people who have to drop bombs to win arguments, or those who use violence when their words have been refused. I do not trust people who lack the capacity for conflict and confrontation in conversations.
What I do understand better is affirmative action and drive. People who are willing to speak and listen, who can express anger without using violence. The people who know how to agree to disagree. I understand taking action for self defence, not the initiation of offence.
Life is a precious gift of nature and humans must not play god just because they are powerful. You must not make them feel like god just because they promised you a “better” life in whatever capacity.
I will not tell the underprivileged, poor or powerless to be fearless because I know that is very hard to do. To ask a suffering person to not feel pain, to be strong instead and fight the powerful? That is a nonsensical hope people wish to keep, but please keep that hope alive nonetheless because it is important. Do not let my realist view taint the lifeline that hope provides to people. In times of despair, optimisim does become medicine.
All life is gifted equally and has equal value, but all humans are not equal in this world and capitalism now values their lives in terms of net worth. Let us not be delusional in what we are asking and from whom. We must know how to distinguish between hope, false hope, illusion and delusion.
The people who are in between (someone like me)— well-off but not rich, privileged enough but not powerful— can only create influence in their immediate surroundings and social circles. And this only thing must be done.
Cling to whatever small action is within your control to take, initiate it or be a part of it. Believe it or not, the future does depend on your attitude and behaviour. Treat this moment in time— this phase in the vast timeline of human history— with extreme cruciality and caution. Like it is the only tree left on planet earth, like it is the last source of oxygen that needs to be watered. Every drop will make the ocean eventually. But if the water is polluted, there will be no trees and no ocean.
With the way the present events are unfolding and tracing them back to history, it seems to me that we are only capable of pausing war and not attaining peace.
It is the powerful rich who have brought this turmoil upon us. Yet, it is also the powerful rich who have real power to truly influence a shift in world order. Those who do not belong in that class can only urge and appeal to the higher ups to have the courage to disarm the harmful at least. Those who do not hold power can only resist the wrongdoings of the powerful and protect themselves from becoming corrupt. But we see many unable to resist the powerful or protect themselves from becoming corrupt. The powerful rich who respect human lives need more solidarity, who can pool their resources together to have a siginificant effect. If not build a better world, push to call for truce and bring the illusion of peace. For the time being at least, like it was done about a century ago.
When you zoom out to see the bigger picture, the larger math is that you either live or you don’t. The question of living a “good” or “bad” life comes only after survival. At the end of the day, when a person dies, the fact is that they are dead and cannot have a life anymore. It is the ones who are alive— the ones who are left behind to grieve— who question who killed them. Finding out the murderer and bringing them to justice may comfort their conscience and provide hope for future justice but it does not bring the murdered back to life. Very often, powerless, underprivileged, poor people who die or are killed are never brought to justice and that is a man-made injustice— a byproduct of systems— encouraging social and economic discrimination.
When it comes down to detail, yes there are multiple factors that come in the way through emotional and logical faculties of our mind. Systems created by humans that preserve order are the same systems that also let them abuse power. This difference is created through the minds of the people who run these systems — they either uphold justice or support corruption. While some are intentionally or unintentionally ignorant, they still end up bending the scales either way— ultimatley deciding who controls the system. Sometimes, I feel sad to have a spine but not the power and I pity those who have power but not the spine to use it well. I also empathise with them for knowing that they will have their reasons to remain silent and yet I cannot agree with them.
Because of this understanding, the only thing I wish to want now is to be powerful and rich and bring the change that only the powerful rich can in this capitalist world.
A river only changes direction when it is flowing along with the tide, not against the tide.
P.S. As I proceeded to publish this post and was going through the publishing checks, I clicked on auto-generating the excerpt through AI-integrations as usual. Except this time, it showed me the following message:
“Our service provider 0pen*I could not process your prompt due to a moderation system. Please try to rephrase it changing potentially problematic words and try again.”
I wonder what it is moderating and for whose benefit.
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