Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Humanity


A Utopia is a term used to define a perfect government. Perfect as it makes everyone happy and that no one has anything to complain about. Idealistic and unrealistic as it may already seem to most, early American writers such as Paine has made these ideas as the fundamental to the development of their society. This is a speech i want someone to listen to. The things i would say if i was given a chance to give a speech about us as a nation.

............................................................................................................

Today we are a country that has succeeded in demanding for respect from the global community. There have been times when we have been provoked by political and economical injustice and it is in those times we choose to stand our ground and tie ourselves closer together to get through a problem. The Problem of inflation that our country had went through during the 1997-1999 period were one of our most challenging times and we slowly yet surely created history as a country that was not bounded by the grips of debt to the IMF. The pride we held in our hearts as we refused help shed the people of Malaysia as people who self-respect. Today we are faced with a far larger and more dangerous enemy. Ourselves.

Today we are faced with the problems that our society has no longer the capacity in which it dictates every governmental affairs to regards of faith and belief. Rather we focus on the economics of a country. What message are we sending our children if we tell them the highlight of our country is that we were named "Third Most Economically Productive Country of The Year" when a man died in a river and all we can conclude from it is that he drowned. Commodification and Objectification are two of the most influential ideas in Communism. And today we see just that in our society. We no longer look to the skies when we are in need for guidance but rather we look into our pockets to see whether we have enough money to pay our problems away. We no longer look to the best in mankind but rather tell ourselves that people are not to be trusted. We no longer look to god for guidance but rather we look to those in power and with money. And what is even worse we created that image of ourselves when we were overcoming ideas of success.

today our idea of success is not a happy family but rather a rich family. Our idea of a happy man is not that he has the respect of his family but rather how much money he can give to his sons and daughters. today we look at a man poor and in trouble as being one who did not try hard enough in school instead of maybe establishing that he just never had the opportunity to go to school.

"The problem with mankind is that it cannot survive when man are animal-like..."

Today our biggest problem is that we have lost faith in humanity. We have lost faith in friends and we have lost faith in families. We have been open to the idea of unfaithfulness that we fear it might happening to us. So we do it before it is put upon us. We make thieves by not giving people a chance in life and then we punish them for doing so. we treat each other like dirt and then we punish them for treating us like dirt. Their is no more honor.

My dad once said to me though that "in order to live a life or honor, you need to put aside the bad placed upon you and think about the good you can do for others...."

My dad was intelligent but i have to say the essence of his advice here was simply sometimes unbearable. Be patient when people treat you like crap, but never ever do unto others what you think is inappropriate. My dad lived a life of betrayal. betrayed by his colleagues and friends and co-workers and yet the advice he gave my brothers and i is that we should believe in the best of humanity. I dont know whether to put him as an idealistic idiot..... or a man of honor and faith towards his countrymen. Sometimes i wish i was more like him. I wish i believed in humanity. i wish i could believe in the best of people despite the worst circumstance in which they have left or placed me in. I wish i could outrun the diseases of our community and society and find a place for it to grow and live again. I wish i could trust the world.

My dad said "In our world today... the only thing a man needs is another to believe in him...that is all you have to do...believe in each other..."

maybe one day i will believe. I will believe that even in the darkest corners of darkest street in Kuala Lumpur there will be a shred of decency towards the purity of human life. No more will the people throw unwanted babies into garbage bins. No more will we look down upon the man who holds out his hand for favors by the road side. No more will we place uncertainty in people around us. No more will we not trust those who we work with and believe that maybe they are willing to fight for what is right as much as we are prepared to do the same. And maybe if we can achieve all this, then maybe, when we look to the stars once again, we will see the stars that guided us and our founding fathers, we will see the sky clearly and maybe we will believe that maybe, maybe, just maybe, our society will once again have its humanity.

The problem with our society today is that we do not trust each other. I myself cannot trust everyone. I cannot trust humanity when i read about killings and deaths happening on a street i passed when i was younger. But i want to. i want to trust humanity. Because i know that if we can be better people, then we can make it easier for others to believe in the humanity in us.

"And as we let our own light shine,
We purposely give others to do the same,
as we liberated from our own fears,
our liberation from fear,
allows others to be liberated,
as they no longer fear themselves...."

If maybe we can believe in our humanity or our society then maybe one day we will find that faith brings out the best in people when it is directed in the right place. faith in humanity can never be foul.

No comments: