MCreates

Watching the news can be quite depressing lately that I have been constantly singing Black-eyed Peas song “Where’s the Love” in my head. Really! What’s wrong with the world mama? With all the wars and violence happening around us, what really happened? Why are all these happening? When did we stop being human?

I guess, first we need to define what it means to be human. The Greek philosopher Socrates believed that no one does wrong voluntarily and that evil is the result of ignorance. He also believed that if people knew the right thing to do, he will do it and that we will do what is good or best for us. With all that is happening around us, does it mean humanity is suffering from ignorance? Did our history fail to teach us that no one really wins in war? Or have we been taught that we must do what is beneficial for us even at the expense of another? Did society devolve into something where compassion and empathy are considered taboo and violence and selfishness are marked as signs of strength and greatness? Or has the pain and suffering that each of us has been feeling daily turned us into unfeeling robots that turn a blind eye when we see others suffering?

I know that that news only show us a part of what is really happening around us. Maybe with the new technologies, we see more now than before of what is going on around us. Almost all of us now have the capability to capture events with our phones and share those in the internet which did not exist years ago. I see kids doing harm to other kids and posting them on the social media pages. A show of power, yes. I guess that is what they were thinking. They wanted to show the world how powerful they are as they beat another helpless kid to death. Maybe, there are people who applaud such behavior and even imitate it to show that they too, are equally or even more powerful. Such tolerance and applause from our society encourages such behavior. Somehow it seems contrary to what Socrates said but at the same time, it is very much aligned to his claim that evil is the result of ignorance. If society applauds violence, then we are programmed to think that violence is good. Thus, we can probably say that we are ignorant of good really is.

Just yesterday, the news showed a woman being killed in front of the police station. She reported that her ex, who abused her, has been stalking her. She was feeling unsafe and asked the police on duty if they can at least bring her home with the police car, only to be told that the police car is not a taxi. She felt unsafe. She reported the abuse multiple times and the police have it on their record. The officer and chief of police on duty were women, yet, they did not feel her fear. They failed to sympathize and now she is dead. Have they been so used to such news that they have failed to feel the predicament of others? That violence and crime has become a daily part of their lives that they no longer feel anything anymore, not even sympathy to another woman who fears for her life.

I want to think that I am lucky that I grew up surrounded by love. It breaks my heart that all these are happening around us and I feel helpless that I cannot do anything to change it. Or maybe, in small ways we can do something by showing love and stop the ignorance. As I keep singing “Where’s the love?”, I hope to answer, it’s within me and I am sharing it with you.