Wednesday, July 11, 2007

IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS!!!


Humans who belong to this planet called earth…here I am…hurt but inspired, helpless but motivated and I could go on and on…but let me stop here and share with you the real reason of my writing this…
I had the opportunity of meeting with another human called Patch Adams whose love came straight through from his heart to people around him…what more can I say? He asked us a disturbing question; “have you ever held a starving dying child in your arms?”
And I could not help the tears that followed…
He showed a few pictures which were taken in one part of this very planet we all live…photographs of people and children who were dying in starvation. Not one or two…we saw many lives being wasted away without even having a chance to know what living and loving is all about…we saw mothers holding starving children close to their bosom, feeling helpless because they could not help but watch them die, we saw humans bury their young and old ones side by side who died of starvation, we saw humans waiting for others to die so that they did not have to share their few morsels with them, we saw a vulture sitting close to a child dying of starvation – waiting for the child to die and prey on it even before the soul could leave the body, we saw children drink from the wastes, we saw humans who were dehumanized by war, struggling for a few more breaths in this merciless world, we saw endless poverty which screamed into every grain of the sands and every atom of air that surrounded it…we saw the never-ending abyss of hopelessness in their eyes…we saw that thinking was drowned somewhere in all that misery and had become extinct for years in their souls, what we did not see in those pictures directly but realized was that – reason on the whole was being drowned in poverty, money, selfishness, war, greed, blood and many more entities of the so-called human world…

We saw how countless human beings were born in some parts of the world just to die without even knowing what living was all about…and to think that we talk about intellect, arts, technology, war, politics, government, humanity, peace etc while remaining oblivious to what is happening around us. What kind of a world are we a part of where we totally ignore such realities and still shamelessly say ‘IGNORANCE IS BLISS’??
My tears flow while I type all this…why was I made to see all this? To just feel bad for a few hours, forget and then move on??

NO, NO, NO!!!

These will remain in my mind, heart, body and soul as long as I live and I will see to it that I will share this with as many humans as I can and inspire them to do something about this inequality…

I cannot stop questioning myself again and again about all that is going on? If ignoring such realities and living without an iota of feeling responsible to do something for the world is all called living in this world, I feel sad to be a part of it…but wait!!!
What then is our duty in this design? What is the purpose of our existence in this world?
What can we do to make this world a better place?
How can we expect a soul to love or think when even the basic needs are not met??
Of course we can make a difference…TOGETHER!

HUMANS OF THE PLANET, UNITE!!!

Picture courtesy: www.nutrisci.wisc.edu/NS350/images/somalia.jpg

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was so touching... i'm so sucked up with my day-to-day routine and never gave myself a chance to see or to know the rest of the world around me... Now that i know i want to do something and i will...

mark enslin said...

thank you, acchorian.

when i saw this picture, i not only thought "how can this be happening?" and "how could i let this happen?" but also "who is this?" -- not only a picture of a situation, with both obvious and not obvious aspects, but also a picture of a person with a name, a history, a family, memories.

i also thought "what can i do about this?" and remembered the forum on poverty in illinois i went to in may where i heard about an illinois human rights group addressing among other things food security of people in the town where i live.

thoughtful, caring, observant, needed action in coordination is bliss.