“Even though
human life may be the most precious thing on earth, we always behave as if
there were something of higher value than human life.”
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Simply turn the TV on and what do we see?
Headlines about a mass shooting in
Colorado: 12 people murdered, and 58 wounded at a movie theatre.
Headlines about a Wisconsin Shooting: 7
People Killed at Sikh Temple.
In our own backyard (of Boston): Five slaying in four days; 3 innocent young women passengers in a car
and a man (in a separate incident) on God’s most famous praise day of Sunday. A
couple days later, the execution by stabbing of a man standing at a bus
station…
They were all at
vulnerable moments in their day, time and life…
What happened to
solving issue with class, dignity, and honor? What happened to the good ole’
days, where if a man had an enemy, he would challenge him to a duel; not act as
a coward, and gun/stab him down while he wasn’t prepared? What simply happened
to valuing each other’s lives?
Human life has a value
but yet we act like it is not worth the s*** we step on…
Human life has a value
and yet it has none as we fail to make the time, as individuals, to determine
what that value is…
Let’s all take a
moment and turn from our usual thought process, “I don’t care about that
person (or this person), why should I? I don’t know them, their lives doesn’t
affect me.” Let’s take a moment and instead of judging the worth of someone
else’s life based on their effect on us or lack thereof, let’s turn things
around and imagine the value they place upon their own lives…
Let me humour you…
Stalin said “One death is a tragedy, but a million is just a statistic”. Humour
you, because I’m using a quote by someone responsible for the deaths of about 20
million Russians in labour-camps. This quote, in no uncertain terms, does not
minimize the monstrous magnitude of his actions. The reason why I’m bringing up
his quote is, ironically and unfortunately, I feel that in the current era we
live, one death has become just as much of a statistic as a mass killing. With
mass killings, we connect with the location, with the magnitude and scale of
the event more so than the actual individuals who were slaughtered and this
only because the amount of casualties are overwhelmingly surreal. For people
with love one’s that lose their lives in those “mass killings,” they will feel
the tragedy as they are affected on a deeper and personal level …
It is easy to connect and personalize with
1 death and somewhat disconnect to a large number of deaths at one time, in one
moment. I feel this way because to anyone sensible and “normal,” it is an
occurrence unfathomable. However, now it seems that things (or mentalities) are
heading in a backwards direction and we’ve come to a stage where we can’t even
connect or be affected by 1 death. It’s not because it’s unfathomable but
because we are getting desensitized due to the repetitiveness, making 1 death,
5 deaths or 20 deaths just a statistic.
“We're all
human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.”
~J.K Rowling
~J.K Rowling
Be it far from me to say that the value of
a life should be less than of a mass, but that if we could learn to value life
not only by our “standard” but also by the owner of that life’s perspective, we
would connect and prevent many tragedies.
Many tragedies are generated from a lack of
self-esteem, lack of self-worth, a bruised ego, power struggles, and envy… There’s
absolutely no regard for another person's life. As a whole, we have become uncaring
about the pain and suffering we inflict on others. Human history is filled with
violence towards one another, however we are reaching an alarming level in its
occurrences (outside the war spectrum).
Some kill out of betrayal.
Some kill for revenge.
Some kill for sexual pleasure or dominance.
Some kill out of curiosity.
Some kill for fun.
Some kill for money.
Crime in this country is out of hand and needs
to be undoubtedly attended. And while our leaders and the governments they
oversee need to protect the society we live in, their job is not to raise it!
I believe society allows us to behave the
way we do. It encourages the selfishness in us, which isolates us by making us
think first and foremost about our own selves.
Since when is it okay to rape, abuse,
molest, torture and to take someone else’s life? The senselessness of using
violence and power as a conflict-solving option, damages the spirit of society.
Showing regard for your fellow humans will extend and allow for longer lives.
So what
is the value of life? The value of your life is something that you,
yourself put a value on. You can say that another human is expendable and not
worth your time, day and the air you breathe or you can say it’s a priceless
gift…The only way you’ll be able to determine the value of someone else’s life
is by valuing your own life and of those connected to you. At the end of
the day, the choices we make will determine our actions and tolerance or
rejection to others…
“You can be the
most beautiful person in the world and everybody sees light and rainbows when
they look at you, but if you yourself don't know it, all of that doesn't even
matter. Every second that you spend on doubting your worth, every moment that
you use to criticize yourself; is a second of your life wasted, is a moment of
your life thrown away. It's not like you have forever, so don't waste any of
your seconds, don't throw even one of your moments away.”
~C. JoyBell C.
~C. JoyBell C.
What is your perceived value of someone else's life? How do you value your own life? What and who is to blame for people selfish behavior?
To valuing our most precious gift… Life…
RosieSandz
