The Most Dangerous Animal

There are different kinds of people all around. We see it in our experience and so does the world, through all of its history! The human mind is so fond of classifying and segregating things. So I wanted to figure out how would I classify humans?  There are those hundreds of sects based on race, ethnicity, caste, creed and IQ already, so do I really want to add more to the crap? I thought there is more sense in my version than most others, so here it is…

The first is someone who enjoys brutality.  Not a great start, but these are the specimens we are more worried about! Ever wondered what would be running through the heads of a terrorist or a militant when he’s doing a war crime? Probably not, that’s because we don’t have an experience of seeing that person in our life. The mother or child getting killed, the wife or sister being sexually abused is the last thing on earth one could think of. The power and control of holding a gun and being on a winning side gives him all! And someone rightly termed the human as ‘the most dangerous animal’.

The second is someone who fights for life in Downtrodden Africa or Asia. Ever thought about life in Somalia or Uganda? He sees misfortunes in all shapes and sizes and that sucks out everything out of his life. Death happens everyday from malnutrition, disease, famine and war. Incapable of lifting up his spirit from birth to death, he fades away in the flow of time.

The third is someone who was born in the US or EU by some destiny and rarely gets to understand the worst of human sufferings. Ever seen a guy in your next cubicle whining all day about increased taxes, falling stock prices or a missed increment? At times we could envy them for living in that small space with no windows and for their ability to completely shut them off from the rest of the world.

So the fourth and final is someone who has seen both the worlds! But lucky for them and unfortunate for the world, they get to make a choice. There is one, who chooses to give it back to the society.  But the other more prevalent and the most infamous is “lost among the crowds”. People don’t want to look back for the fear of breaking down, the fear of falling back or the fear of seeing pain! I am no exception and I was afraid to watch those aftermaths of a war. Probably every one of us wants to keep away from those scenes as much as we can, just to avoid the emotional dilemma. But at last I did.

A little child screams in fear lying on a shallow trench along with a group of civilians as the Lankan Army keeps firing the bombshells.  An elderly woman with a bloodshed kid in her arm cries, ”What did the kid do to deserve this???”  A medical volunteer witnesses a bombing and pieces of flesh gets scattered all over the hospital walls. Naked bodies of men and women, blood spilled over the fields, refugee camps and hospitals shattered! Though I realize that it’s so hard for one to shed away the pride of culture and race for the sake of being human! Now wait a minute, did I say being human?? So that's more complicated. What is human?

Try to forget for a while that you are a Tamilian or a Sinhalese or whichever race you are. At the end of the day this is a failure of humanity, the governments, the UN, each and every individual! The value of human life depends on where you are. And how fair is life to you? If you were born in Manhattan and landed up with a job in the Twin Towers, your death would be revenged in 10 years. And if you are a common man in Iraq who happen to die in the war, then probably never! 2800 lives ended in the 9/11 attacks and that was showcased like the end of the world. So what about the 100,000 in Iraq and 40,000 in Sri Lanka? Indeed the 9/11 was horrific but a whole nation looked up for the event and erupted with joy as Obama announced the death of Bin Laden. But do we really care for those thousands of innocent lives lost everywhere else in the world?

  

Getting rid of UN officials before the war, promising a no fire zone and shattering the hospitals, neglecting food, water and medicine for refugees. All of this may or may not be speculated. But all that stands in our hearts are the tears and bloodshed's. Neither the LTTE nor the Lankan government could defend their stand by making heaps of dead bodies to fly their flags high. There have been more deaths in wars than in natural disasters! Hence leaving us with more fundamental things to worry about, more than global warming or natural calamities.

Forget those ifs and buts’ said before and think for one last moment ‘What if…  I was born in any of these countries?’ A lot depends on where you are born and where you dwell so if you believe in rebirths, start your prayers today.  For all those atheists who blame it on GOD… u know what? “F*** you” and for all those theists who try to give an explanation for these deaths… u know what? “F*** you too”. I had a second thought here but for a lack of better word to all my frustration, disappointment and incapability, this sounds better!

Happen to remember these lines

“பரதேசம் வாழுகின்ற அப்பாவி மனிதரை 
பலகாரம் செய்துண்டதும் 
பிள்ளையின் கறியுண்டு 
நம்பினார்க்கு அருளிடும் பரிவான பரபிரம்மனே”