The day starts as usual. Nothing special, nothing different, nothing out of the ordinary. That is what it always had been - yesterday, today, tomorrow, and the days that will almost soon lead to the end of our lives. Or at least, my life. We go through the pace of life together, walk through the never-ending hills and slopes of life together, and even see paths which stop - some abruptly, some gradually.
Everyone has their own journey to walk through, but all of our journeys are different. Different in terms of length, in terms of smoothness. Not one is the same.
I picked up a cup of the usual morning Milo and read the daily news.
"GDP expected to climb 2% by 1st quarter"
"Murderer found stucked in a toilet bowl"
The news soon gets more gloomy - deaths are inevitable after all.
"Man found dead in park"
"Boy beheads mum after argument"
Indeed, some journeys are tougher and more rockier, while some are quick and shorter. I'd prefer mine to be peaceful and long - who wouldn't want to live just a little longer?
I remembered a piece of news that shocked the world and produced a world shocker - the September 11 attacks. The impact was great and terrible; the stocks were falling, and the economy could hardly coped. I was in my own world at that time, in my hometown of Singapore where our security was tight and our government was efficient. It soon turned out to be both an advantage and disadvantage. I wouldn't really want to see the Esplanade being reduced to a pile of durian/metal spikes and burning remains. But it will soon lead to the ignorance of the outside world, the inability to feel the pain and loss felt by so many thousands and millions outside.
No, I'm not contemplating to reduce our durian into burnt-out shells and seeds while sipping my Milo - I'm thinking of how aware we are; not just us Singaporeans, but in fact the entire global population, about who is suffereing out there, beyond our cosy 5-room flats.
I remember another news - the death of Princess Diana. That was in 1997, where I was just a mere Primary 2 boy who has no ambition except for the usual "doctor" or "lawyer". I remembered the big hooha over it, and I learnt the word that could set any parents grinning - "paparazzi". Quite a long word for a small kid like me. But my grasp of English was not as good as my grasp of the world around me. I would later learn a famous and wonderful quote -
"One death is a tragedy. Many deaths are just numbers."
Winston Churchill said this during the Second World War, and indeed, it was very true.
From then on, I started thinking about war; not the weapons and machineries, but the meaning of war. It didn't really meant much to me, like how Princess Diana crashed on the 14th pillar of a expressway in Paris (I saw the pillar during a package tour of Europe when I was 10) meant anything to me. It didn't. All I had to do was to work hard for my studies - could Diana improve my Mathematics? No she couldn't. So she wasn't really a big deal for me at that time.
But there will come an age where knowledge of the world would help me in my Mathematics - or Geography and History, for that matter. I had arrived at that age, and I had started thinking. I thought of many different things. Who started the war? Why was this war neccesary? Why must they fight the war?
And then came the ultimate question - Why is there war?
As a citizen of well-protected Singapore, I don't understand the meaning of war, I've never been in a war, and I shall never hope to. War is bad, they always say. I often go on my "shameless" rounds, asking strangers the same question - "Why is there war?"
Often I get the same conversation:
"To end conflicts."
"But why can't they do it peacefully?"
"Because the other party refuses to comply?"
"Why must the other party comply? Why can't everyone sort out their differences, and live in peace and harmony?"
"Look I have no time, maybe you should get the Power Rangers to answer your question."
I know it's very cliched - having everyone to live in peace and harmony. I learnt from Social Studies that everyone is different, just like how everyone's lives are different, with the ups and the common downs. Some religions allow their people to eat pork, while some religions do not. Some people share their things while others don't.
I learnt from 3 years of philosophy that there's only one way to solve the problem of the existence of war and to bring peace - universal concensus. I have used the term many times in my essays, and it is always the most important factor. But impossible. Important by impossible.
Let's look at it this way, my young apprentice. If we were all to think the same, morally correct, that is, which means that we would both share our items, that would be no more conflicts. There would be no more school arguments about how selfish he is and how stingy he is. All of us would leave in peace.
But it's impossible. That's why we still have wars today. So how do we solve the problem? There is no direct way to solve the problem, honestly. The best we could do is to move as closely as possible to world peace and harmony, and being able to help each other to sustain life.
Wait. If school children are able to solve the problem of arguments, why not the United States and Iran, to give one example? That's easy. School children solve it through fights, the United States and Iran will solve it with war. We're back in Square One.
So why can't school children settle it through peaceful means? Well, some do, definitely. We sign childish treaties and shake hands like how the adults do it.
But only some, not all.
Not all of us can solve conflicts just by words and a shaking of the hands. At some point of time one of the parties would act, which would thus appear in tomorrow's paper - "America declares war on Iraq"
So, is there really no other way to stop the fighting and conflicts? If they were children, it's ok. The child stage is a stage for the child to grow up, obviously, into any adult. We don't see headlines like - "6 year old child kills friend after friend refuses to lend a pencilbox" So I guess that isn't really counted as a war. But adults? Shouldn't adults be able to think more carefully, more logically?
As I mentioned in one of the paragraphs just now, I believe we should all help each other as friends, as survivors of the Earth, and that all of us should only die of one cause - disease or old age.
Let's look to the past; Hitler killing Jews because they were "inferior"? Who says they were inferior? They were just like any humans - and as I said, all humans are different. You certainly don't kill your mum just because she's a woman. In fact, you should try to spend your life with her properly. And when the old move on, one should be both happy and sad - happy because you have spent your life with her with no regrets, and you've did whatever you can for her, and she moved on happily! And you're sad for only one reason - that you no longer have the company of her.
Unfortunately human relations aren't that simple. I have been told by my dad to be more realistic, which I agree. So which part of what I said wasn't real? Is not co-existing happily with my parents not possible? The Shi'ites and Sunnis - why are you killing people? Why are you asking the question, "Why should we live with them?" Because we are human!
There shouldn't be any war or conflicts at all. By now at this time and century, we must already be able to sort out our differences! Look at our hometown. Any Christians reading this - a Christian and a Muslim buried on the same ground on the same green plains, our first few presidents - Mr. Benjamin Shears and Mr. Yusof bin Ishak.
Is death the only way two parties can exist together? Why not in the living as well? I thoroughly belive that Mr. Benjamin Shears and Mr. Yusof bin Ishak have no problems living together when they were alive. So why all these fighting?
Almost everyday I see bloodshed - not real life, but on newspapers.
"Suicide bomber kills 32 in Iraq"
"Suicide bomber kills 12 in Baghdad marketpace"
This is no fault of anyone's, no fault of any race or religion, except for the terrorists. I have this burning question I wanted to ask since I first read about you.
Why are you killing? Not just people, animals, plants, anything. Why are you in the first place, klling? Why can't you go back home to your families, talk to them, smile and laugh with them, enjoy yourselves with them, be with your families? Why do you want to live with this false sense of pride that you're going to heaven after killing people?
And what blood are you shedding? You're shedding the blood of your own, my dear terrorists. You're shedding the blood of Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists. And whose "dirty" blood are you shedding anyway? If anyone of you are even reading this, any of your "holy warriors" are reading this, whose blood are you calling "dirty"?
Who in the first place said it was "dirty"? Was it Allah? Was it God? Was it Buddha? Or was it your leader, who brainwashed you into thinking as such? Think, my radicals. Why are you doing this? Why can't you live your life in peace? You can't rest when there are Christian enemies alive? Oh come on, this was already so long ago. We're already in the 21st century, and we should be doing more important things - try to survive in this world, and trying to save our environments.
Let me give you this analogy. If tomorrow, like another usual day, a huge alien army invades Earth, are you going to fight alongside Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and people from all over the world; Freemasons, Jehovah's Withnesses against the aliens? Or will you attempt to destroy the entire Earth by still trying to instill internal strife?
We, as humans, must live in peace and harmony. There is no other way to survive. Out there, hundreds of people are dying, starvation, illness, diseases. Why are you trying to fight your war instead of helping these people? These people are the ones who need help, not your country. These are the people who need to be heard, not your army. And these are the people who do not deserve to die, for they never did any wrong.
All soldiers from all races, religions and languages, put down your guns and trust each other, for there is nothing to fear. All of us are indeed brothers, and there is no need for jealousy. We must all work towards peace, which many countries already have. But not all.
Forget about previous greviances. We are already in a new millenium, is there still a need for these childish and thoughless bloodshed?
Let's stop all wars now, and continue the peace.
Hey, I still need mine and a cup of Milo, don't you?
No comments:
Post a Comment