Impotent rage over death and war, necessary?
Firefox comes with this nice little “Latest Headlines” RSS feed. It’s quite alright for sports and some unimportant news, but my biggest problem with it is that it gives me real news too. Real news can be painful, shocking even, definitely not a pleasant experience.
Anyway, the link I was talking about is yet another US massacre in Iraq. People’s lives are important, yes, but I’ve reached a stage where I no longer want to see another report on another terrorist attack, another war, another incursion into people’s homes. So the question I’m asking is, “Is it wrong to not want to care?”
For the past 10 years, I’ve experienced feelings ranging from depressing sadness, to fiery impotent rage on reading about so many people being killed someplace because of so many other people. In fact, the only thing they all have in common is that they don’t help me at all.
That brings to mind the advice of a character in Ian McEwan’s “Saturday“, who encourages you to “think small”, which I think is pretty reasonable advice. No point getting worked up about something that’s impossible for you to change. For now, until someone convinces me otherwise, I’ll stick with that, it seems to work pretty well.
The ancients got it wrong, the line should’ve been “Indifference is bliss”
Posted by roshan.george under Musings |
Sure, you can be like my sister.
She doesn’t read the newspaper nor watch the news so has no idea what’s going on in the world or even in Besant Nagar for that matter. She lives in her own private world and is the most selfish creature I’ve seen.
Why not hate the people to kill other people? It keeps you going when you’re pissed off with other things. And hopefully the collective hate will kill off the bad guy or atleast make him suffer.
Comment by Marc Z — July 10, 2006 @ 6:52 pm
I like your sister’s attitude. It’s nice to see someone who’s achieved what I now hold as an ideal. Gives me hope.
Collective dislike never killed anyone. I’m going to be selfish, maybe I’ll be happier.
Comment by roshan.george — July 10, 2006 @ 8:39 pm
Still through the dusk of dead, blank-legended
And unremunerative years we search
To get where life begins, and still we groan
Because we do not find the living spark
Where no spark ever was; and thus we die,
Still searching, like poor old astronomers
Who totter off to bed and go to sleep,
To dream of untriangulated stars.
Comment by Beloved Commander — July 17, 2007 @ 9:53 am
What?
Comment by Marc — July 17, 2007 @ 10:43 pm