Rot

What becomes of a man after death? So many of us desperately seek the answer to that question. But I, Rengasayee Veeraraghavan, graduate student, know the answer. Yes. What becomes of a man after death? He becomes a statistic. Pathetic as it may sound, it is the truth. No matter what he may have accomplished in life, no matter what the manner of his death - he just becomes a statistic, for death is the great equalizer.

Let me present my case before you judge me a cynic. "Nothing is certain in life but death." When a man dies, it does indeed impact the living to varying degrees - people may grieve over his loss or they may celebrate his passing. But none of the emotions of the living have impact the dead. But the collective memory of humanity has a very short life span and eventually all that remains is a statistic dutifully written down somewhere, to last relatively much longer than the memory of the dead.

Our perceptions of the lives and deaths of other men depend on how far we are separated from then in space and time. Do any among us really grieve for our distant ancestors? How many of us even know much of the lives they led? And what of the multitudes dying every day in some corner of the world far removed from our miniscule awareness? What do we do when we learn of people killed by terrorists and imperialist nations in the Middle east, by starvation and disease in africa? In the worst case, we hardly bother to disguise our apathy - uttering a couple of inane words expressing emotion, openly feigned. The somewhat more sympathetic among us may contribute our two cents of spare change to some charity and move on with our lives. But what do we really know of the dead beyond the statistics? Do we know how many of the dead were doting parents or loving children? Do we even spare a thought for the bereaved? WHAT DO WE KNOW BEYOND STATISTICS?

But what of those individuals who dedicate their lives to helping their fellow men? The noble among us. I neither deny their existence nor do I discount the magnitude of their deeds. Indeed, so colossal have been the deeds of some, that we may think they have impacted humanity itself. But have they really? For instance, Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi are two such men - their ideas and actions have impacted the lives of countless human beings. When Lincoln abolished slavery in the United States of America, when Gandhi liberated India from the British yoke - no small feats - they changed the course of human history. They even implanted their ideas and values into the hearts of many.

Yet, the bigotry, hate, apathy and greed that tarnish humanity as a whole remain undiminished. Not even the most significant events in our history have been able to cause changes that aren't merely cosmetic. For example, slavery may have been abolished in the so-called civilized world but has that stopped men from exploiting their fellow men to serve their own personal greed? HARDLY! The lot of humanity has more or less remained constant through history. Just like life itself, human nature is an irrepressible force - it will always find a way. And it is the rotting core of humanity itself that deserves blame for the way the world is.

So how then do we save ourselves? We don't. It's too late for that. All we have to look forward to is our inevitable extinction. Until the moment of our end is upon is, we will continue to remain wrapped up in the cocoons of our pointless pursuits, blissfully ignorant of reality. The only consolation is that none of it would have mattered, even slightly, to the universe. In the words of George Carlin, "we started off as a species with much promise but now we're just circling the drain."

Let me leave you with these words from Albert Einstein - "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."

PS. Still think I'm being cynical? Just read the news.