But then I watch the television, and I feel sort of uncomfortable…It’s alright to proclaim today as a National Day
of Mourning, but…to me it seems as if many people, who have no relation whatsoever with the victims,
let themselves be led by the enormous sadness, grief and suffering 200 Dutch families
are passing through. It’s like a collective form of mass hysteria (that’s how I would call, it, although I know it’s
not right). The media is constantly only broadcasting news about the plane
crash, about how horrible it is, how sad, about basically everything that has anything
to do with it. It makes me feel sick, because that’s just the media exploiting a tragic event. It makes me
feel uncomfortable, because so many people go along with something that is
indeed tragic, but - in short- none of
their business.
Because all those Dutch people, oh,
how they mourn collectively. How they
sympathize. And that’s it. Then life goes on, as many say.
But I don’t see it that way. Instead of collective mourning, people
should think deeper, profounder (however comforting this might be for some, because I know it also has its good
sides). They should think about
why this happened. Don’t understand me wrongly: not
how. Why did this happen?.
It is sad, no, infinitely more
than sad, that we live in a
world where violence is still one of humans most common attitudes. Already
in the 70’s, in the time of the hippies, people dreamt of a better world, worldwide peace, stopping discrimination,
equal rights, etc. But nooo. We’re
still going the way we were, which is, in short, letting ourselves be guided by
our ego
and our primitive impulses, fighting
with other humans for power, territory, riches…
Don’t we ever learn from the
past? Obviously not. We aren’t capable
of long term thinking, and even less capable of thinking in any other time that
besides our own lifespan. The consequence
of this is that we forget the horrors
of violence, war, and whatever kind of human attitude that only exists to
satisfy ones ego. This means that conflicts and wars will continue emerging around the world.
I’m writing this based on the events of the airplane crash MH-17 in
Ukraine. A plane with almost 300 passengers on board, probably shot down by Russian separatists
in Ukraine because they thought it was a Ukrainian airplane. An act of pure
violence, that will affect the lives of 300 families forever, families who never had anything
to do with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Because, listen well: Wars and conflicts rarely cause victims who are directly implicated, but rather almost
always affect people who have nothing to
do with it. This way, the wave of violence expands, because they will
always want an eye for an eye (and thus, the world goes blind).
What conflict between people can be so extreme that people end up
killing others? And…have they never stopped to think in the immense amount of
suffering they cause because they are persuading their ego?
It’s unbelievable. But we never
learn from the past. People always focus on the differences between other humans. Differences in opinion, beliefs, skin
color, culture…But, aren’t there more things that unite us then things that separate us? Aren’t we all human? Aren’t we all capable of loving, compassion, empathy, understanding when we are born? Why focus so much on what separates
us as humans? Instead we should accept
those differences and rejoice, because
those differences makes each of us unique,
precious, valuable!
Be different, and make sure you do
learn from the errors others commit. Make
sure that you will end up seeing violence as the most harming and useless attitude
a human is capable of. Violence is useless, it only causes suffering. A war
never has winners, only losers. Everyone loses once they are implicated
in acts of violence. Do you want to
be part of the violent attitude? Or will you choose for no violence, tolerance, compassion, respect? It’s your decision, but you must know that,
although you’re only one person, your actions will affect the world. You, and only
you, are capable of deciding what footprint to leave behind on this world.
For me it’s clear. I say NO to violence,
at all the possible levels (yes,
think about that, it’s a lot harder then you’d think at first notice). I say NO to suffering. And I know that, with this life-attitude, I will
make a difference in the world, no
matter how little.
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