BROKEN COMPASS

Broken compass

Earth is the only planet supporting life. There is no ambiguity in this statement. There is another truth, human being is the only species with the highest level of intellectual and emotional quotient. So, what do we do with that? We create fault lines and widen it. The only thing differentiating men with animals is “humanity”. Do we actually know its meaning or is it just a shield to be used as time demands?

Humanity is quoting Gandhi, Mandela or Teresa? Humanity is the award given every year to certain accomplished and outstanding activities done in sphere of humanism? Humanity is represented by those handful of “incarnated” souls having halo around them? Humanity is the philanthropist charity done by the golden piles of money? Humanity is a duty or a right? There can never be a single point of convergence as far as the definition and understanding of humanity is concerned.

Every day, every moment we define who we are. It’s the action of ours and not the words that define us. There is no perfect way to experience it. There is no black and white of moral compass among individuals. Lots of factors chip in to define an action. But ultimately it should make us move towards a better tomorrow. Are we?

When was the last time you tried to understand someone else’s point of view? Their perspective? When was the last time you were tolerant towards others? When was the last time you paused for a moment and actually thought, there might be an iota of reason in other’s contradictory opinion as well? May be never or a long time back. Why? Because believe it or not human beings are self-centered.

I am the most important person on this planet, the most enlightened soul, the most hallow and sacred. My believes are true, my religion is the purest (even being atheist is a religion in itself, and so any ideologically motivated congregation of people, be it Feminists or Maoists or anything else). This is my kingdom and everyone else is my subject. This universe revolves around me. Wait what?

Individualism is a western concept but has been widely spread, even in Chinese or Indian civilization. Today, in the inter-connected world, it’s so easy to peel off the mask and look at the ugly truth. Was this planet just for the humans? How many species have already been extinct and how many on the verge of extinction? Land, water, air, everything human being touched became poisonous. Where is the concept of co-existence?

When we talk about human being as a species, it reflects the collective conscience of how an individual unit works. As a person how much moral grounds one can cover and how much compassion, empathy one can show. As a person, a man failed if he undermines the existence of a woman, a rich failed if he exploits a poor, a woman failed if she can’t understand the importance of co-existence, a poor failed if he hates a rich for no reason. Similarly every section and every strata of humanity is tarnished and have stains of wrong doings. Nobody can claim a higher moral ground.

Life was distributed equally among every species. But today only human beings decide the fate of it. Forget about other species, even among humans some are more worthy of life than the others. America showed us how much an American life cost. Post 9/11, how many countries were thrown into the pits of hell fire? What today is the ruins of Syria or Iraq or Afghanistan, was once a fairly happy nation. Even within America, a black matters less than a white. Similar fault lines exist in India as well.

The truth is “Equality” is a myth. There will always be someone more equal than the other. That’s how nature works. This asymmetry is the locus of nature. But that shouldn’t be a parameter to define humanity. Even among inequalities, one can always listen and understand to reason. Rationality, logic and an eternal search for truth, these might act as a compass on the journey of true humanity.

A life revolving around self is not worth living. Today it might sound logical to do whatever is necessary to please yourself, even at the cost of tears of others. But remember tomorrow there will be someone else doing the same to you. Today you justify your unilateral decisions by quoting your happiness at the cost of other’s pain, but tomorrow someone else will treat you like a cog in a wheel, a worthless creature and a waste of time. Today you might close your doors for someone because you found happiness at some other window, but tomorrow that window will be closed.

Today’s world is a world of merchandise, materialism and so the emotions, feelings too shaped accordingly. Today people want rights and are afraid of duties. Today people shout for freedom but don’t respect other’s claim of it. Today, the sense of entitlement over the wisdom is so strong that every ancient source of knowledge is ignored or worse vilified.

Where are we moving as humans? That can only be answered by thinking, where are we moving as individuals? It might look like a modern society but it’s more tribal in basic sense. We are moving towards the “Survival of the fittest”. The day we shift the center of our existence from self to “humanity”, we will find our moral compass guiding us to a better tomorrow. Today if “something inside you is dead” or you don’t feel love for others, tomorrow it will be you hearing the phrase. There is no perfection and a hunt for the same is a symptom of Utopian illusion.

You never tried because escapism looked a better option to you. It might be, but not for long. You can’t claim your humanity by killing it, one way or the other. Long live Homo sapiens.