Sunsets are like a magical moment, announcing the end of the day. Then, we start another day, a dark one. We chose celebrating that day or resting as the body deserves. Both, make life’s journey as a fairytale with two sides to the story. By Isis Win
I will never forget when having a conversation with my father in law. He stood from his chair and yelled, “We are savages!” That was his reaction to a comment by the New York Times that presented evidence about the failed invasion of Iraq. Plan B from the US government never existed, and post the military intervention, the region, and our troops were in the blank. No reliable plan was placed to save the country from anarchy, a terrible lack of balance between the enemy ethnic groups, etc.
This reaction caused me a huge impression because this man was a highly intelligent man, exceptionally educated, with experiences that only a handful of people in the world had and a clear heart for justice and fairness. He was a mining engineer working for the #1 steel mining business in the US many moons ago. His capacity was so overwhelming that he was in charge of doing everything thoroughly to make sure that was a perfect entrepreneurial investment, the creation of such would not negatively alter the lives of the locals, the buildup of an entire town. The rail system to carry the ore, hospital, school, dwellings for the workers, even the church they professed. His operation was a total success, and he lived there several years in Gabon, Africa, in the company of his family, my spouse, among them. His views matter to me.
He no longer is with us, but the memory of his experience is living in me, and often I find myself revisiting many of the conversations with him. Lately, the savage part has been in my head and the computer I use to write everything.
I can say I have examined the behavioral history of humanity through my entire life. My interest in human life has taken me to educate myself in anthropology, and from there, everything that may find answers, perhaps explanations about why our negative behavior is recurrent, century after century. Huh! If I had a solution to that, a book, my book, would be tested in the market and perhaps offer a benefit to improve our world and societies. Nuh! I do not have a book, nor will I.
I only have things to be said, always in the hope that someone, even if that is only one human, consider the content and perhaps, find a clue as to how to better his persona and add another grain of salt to better our world. Yes, I am a romantic gullible person that profoundly and to the surface believes, we can be better and stop bullying others and life.
It does not take to pull an encyclopedia about human history to reckon that we are savages. The world has been changing, many vital aspects of our sad past have been improved, and we can say we are moving forward. Not forward enough, when we see that people are killed for no reason, criminals do not always even get impugned; they just walk away.
The hostility of this type might be considered the result of rooted anger. Which most likely is. The perpetrator possibly faced a similar life that never offered the chance to develop an appreciation of their internal feelings and from others—perhaps offering an opportunity to open their mind and figure if what they feel justifies the actions that take place without thinking and end up exploding like a walking bomb. So, are anger and frustration the culprits?. Well, not just that. A profound disregard for life is the thickness of the iceberg. How can that be? When our same person – is a life too?
Sacrifice of human life is the ultimate gift of humans (soldiers of war or peace) have given to their country, to their cause. That whether conscripted or volunteered and without questioning the potential loss of life, that is a sacrifice.
Soldiers – since the early days of humanity – had sacrificed themselves as if they had a voucher to renew their life when needed. It is not justifiable, but it makes sense considering that others may lose their lives if they do not take action and as well, they might be dead too. That is war, but large numbers of homicides are beyond reason. Especially when the cause of death is uninvited, enticed, provoked, and happened because something in that person is something that is not appreciated. Supporting the 2nd amendment is so powerful, that still, in the 21st century, the 2nd amendment, is not revised, and legislated. That could be the reduction of those deaths, and being safe becomes a reality. Not an idea.
There is a myriad of reasons a human may kill a human. In fact, now, without any weapons involved, the spread of Covid can kill 3x the number of each carrier, and some people disregard that potential. Do I need to mention those people in the outer world are risking their own lives too? How about the multiple deaths of people consuming high dosages of opioids and other drugs? Or the suicides that take place every year here at home?
I do not know about you, but most people I know, including myself, appreciate life and the journey we take before arriving to our last day in life.
It is irreconcilable to assess if there are genuinely good reasons to disregard our own life. Nevertheless, when looking at the past and present, this disregard for life may seem bad enough to desire to finish our own life. If an extraterrestrial visited us, without a doubt, it would think that we are so derailed, so nuts, that their trip is a waste of time. This issue does not make sense.
Sci-fi movies and literature have depicted the end of life on earth, but we thrive by resourcing to whatever may sustain our lives. We do not give up and stop the possibility that human life still populates the planet. But we are not overall doing that for a long time. The earth, societies, beliefs, material things, and plain frustration are in the game about – if we save humanity or we destroy it. So far, destruction is winning because it suffices that one or two people do what they believe must be done to start the elimination of one, two, and as many possible lives. A situation that as well, may trigger the continuation of destruction. The least we could possibly do to save us from mass destruction is to appreciate our own life and everything that comes with that territory.
Humanity will not evolve until the moment no soul suffers from the hand of men.
