Death, the inevitable destination
Amidst war all around, I wonder!
News flashed on my screen and when I dug further I shivered and the thought of death visited me again.
Go ahead and read about them, they are not just numbers, they are actual people. When I saw comments like “they had it coming”, I couldn’t fathom it. And I started wondering about death itself, have I comprehended it yet?
Last year around the same time I heard about the death of my cousin, for a few minutes I couldn’t even believe and I didn’t know of words I could say to pacify a mother. At that moment I felt so helpless, considering I am the eldest one, I had always felt like a protector for my little ones and here I was standing powerless. I always knew death to be scary but this time feeling was different, an utter despair. He was just sixteen and even while writing this I remember the first time I saw him, a small little pink beautiful baby he was and you can’t help but wonder why that happened and repeat the question hundreds of times, even if you offer your own life and still you won’t be able to bring him back.
Being a child you can’t actually comprehend death but as soon as you start growing up the despair gradually seeps in and the helplessness it brings is beyond any physical pain. I remember getting several missed calls from my parents and always wondered, well why do they get scared this easily but today when my parents don’t pick up the call on time the fear I tell you is overwhelming.
And here I am reading a news article where thousands were killed brutally.
Some say a fight for freedom, but I wonder did they consider the possibility of retaliation for murdering unarmed civilians. How can that bring them any good? I always wondered what makes people terrorists, that they brutally end up killing people not thinking about their loved ones or the pain they would end up causing. And why for some people they are freedom fighters and I still can’t understand how. But I feel I do know the basic tenets that derive it, let’s try to comprehend it.
Brainwashing, well a simple search on Google and you would find the basic definition.
It’s a systematic effort to persuade nonbelievers to accept a certain allegiance, command, or doctrine. The techniques of brainwashing involve the complete removal of personal freedom, independence, and decision-making prerogatives; the radical disruption of existing routine behavior; the total isolation from, and destruction of loyalties to, former friends and associates; the absolute obedience to authority.
Just go through this inference by Steve Hassan and you will realize ignorance is not bliss.
In this digital era where we are constantly fed the information that we like, we end up making opinions that even perpetuate into extremist ideas, and that’s where the downfall of humanity begins.
Let’s test a theory related to the current war: Israel Vs Hamas. I am sharing a Palestinian’s and a native Israeli perspective on the conflict that is from ages. If you can watch both videos without flinching, without rage, and with sympathy for both sides then well you still are saved by the constant feeding of one side via the great digital era. If you don’t feel at all, well then this isn’t for you.
Moving to another tenant that basically is one of the roots of brainwashing individuals.
Insecurity, a feeling of inadequacy. It involves an overall sense of uncertainty or anxiety about your worth, abilities, skills, and value as a person, conveying the message that you’re at risk or in danger of something or someone. What will you do when you feel you are at risk?
That’s where danger makes its way. Rage, jealousy, hatred and all the malicious emotions come running to you in hindsight of protecting you. So what you can do about it? Well, let’s take the help of one of my favorite writers, Brene Brown who made wholehearted living a piece of cake. She very beautifully portrays that we can all fight and overcome our insecurities if we project to each other that we are not alone and try to understand each other’s perspective with grace.
If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive.
Pain of losing someone. A desire to avenge the death or hurt of someone we loved dearly. The revenge burning in the heart due to the humiliation one goes through due to somebody or a section of society.
Well, you may say the war is quite deep, and the politics involved is much deeper it’s just not a simple saga of pain. Some may say Israelis came to a foreign land and started annexing. Some will say Palestine did not respect the two-state treaty and the fact that originally it belonged to Jews. While there may be other sections saying it’s a part of some power game. I am not here to decide on that, but I am here to figure is there any way to stop it altogether. Well, I recently watched an anime series, Vinland Saga. It very beautifully portrays the futility of revenge and war. It’s day 29 and war continues, and here although I can understand the pain I hope it’s not driven by revenge. I can only pray for peace, I can only pray for the safety of every human being.
As for me, am not scared of my death but I am scared of the aftermath it will bring, the utter despair it will bring to my loved ones. I know time will heal them but the pain that they would have gone through will be insurmountable. Like every beautiful parent, my parents want to fix any problem that comes my way, and every time they are not able to, seeing their heartbreak, breaks my own heart a thousand times over, and sometimes I feel like telling them very loudly so that it seeps in.
“Well Papa you have done enough, you gave me a good education and made me capable enough to stand on my own two feet. So relax now and live peacefully. I can survive my struggles and you can’t fix everything, you are neither God nor a magician.”
However loud I am I know I still won’t reach him, he will still keep trying and that’s the beauty of love I guess. So if a terrorist kills me, I would want my loved ones to break the cycle in a way that doesn’t bring the same pain to another set of parents. Justice must be served, but not with the lives of the innocent. Reprimand the perpetuator, and fix the root cause. And somehow if you can’t figure out how, just keep on living with grace and love in your heart and with a smile that reaches me wherever I am lost ❤
In the end, I just have one goal in life I should live in a way that when I die, there’s a peaceful smile knowing that I loved and lived well, what’s yours my friend ?
