Why violence in the world? Are we living in a world where one gorilla army invades and destroys another gorilla group?
Why have we humans thrown away all civilized norms and behave like primitive primates making other people’s lives impossible?
We are supposed to be civilized? Aren’t we? Don’t we all have a right to live on this planet earth? Has anyone secured a monopoly of owing it? Can even the richest man among us claim that he is the Lord of the planet whom belongs all that he surveys? Has the Lord of the Universe crowned him with the privilege of arrogating to himself all the power to eliminate others?
Having evolved from primates, whose brain was not developed to distinguish between what is human and what is inhuman, we human beings are, by any commonsensical standard, supposed to behave with certain ethical norms and civilized manners. Yet the opposite is seen, felt and experienced.
With the sense of territorial integrity of the animal world, Homo sapiens began to erect walls around him. It was done with a sense self-perceived insecurity. To protect himself, his family, and his community, fearing the perversion of predators! There came up community walls, caste walls, religious walls, class walls, ethnic walls, political walls, black walls, white walls, black and white walls, to mention a few!
Now, from the black and white phenomenon we have graduated to the world of colour panorama. With free abandon we display our military might, our rainbow coloured nuclear arsenal, and our kitchenware to keep in check the enemy, in case the latter is suspected to be getting ready to press the ‘wrong’ button. We fear that in case our sense of insecurity boomerangs on us!
We create hate walls, inscribing on them vituperative slogans indicating how our minds and hearts are filled with hellfire. We erect fortresses mouthing hate- spewing religious invocations fearing that our flock of followers may be led away by charismatic zealots. We inflate our followers with anger and hatred and turn them into foot-soldiers who can wield flint stones and double edged swords with crusading spirit.
We throw away the noble principles enshrined in our religious books and adopt acrimony and arrogance as our breastplate. We bury truth and justice preached and practiced by our prophets and forefathers and erect on their tombs towers of Babylon. We blacklist honest leaders and become freemasons to kidnap and kill, to drone-bomb, to carpet-bomb, and to wipe out all that is in the way. The power of evil is making its dance of death in today’s world.
The important question is: Shall we become heralds of death or heralds of fellowship? Or shall we stone one another to death, and wipe out others’ existence?
But then who will be there start with bow and arrow once again? For goodness’ sake, let us be human! 