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This is a very chilling article. Not simply by measure of severity of the incident (It's true that more massive events have taken place recently). Rather, more of how unnecessary lives have been robbed off their rightful values. Labelled by creed and the resulting intolerance. If there was only one life that everyone is entitled to, (assuming incredible things like the afterlife and karmic cycle or the likes of such do not exist), then I'm not sure if life should indeed be spent like that.Today I read Emerson's 'Self-reliance'.'
Way before happenings like this one, far back in the 19th century, Emerson wrote:
"Who can thus avoid all pledges, and having observed, observe again from the unaffected, unbiassed, unbribable, unaffrighted innocence, must always be formidable. He would utter opinions on all passing affairs, which being seen not to be private, but necessary, would sink like darts into the ear of men, and put them in fear.These are the voices we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs." - Ralph Waldo Emerson in 'Self-reliance'
Should one be thinking and repentant, then incidences like "ethnic cleansing" might see their day of diminishment. Yet, old beliefs persist and rivals enlisted for extermination. Should conformity not be of utmost priority, then one perhaps is able to more rationally exert control on one's own life; perpetrators would not be perpetrators, victims can then escape victimization. It is somehow true that grand narratives and abstract theories can no longer stand in "modern" society (since majority prefer pragmatism and structure), yet, I strive to derive applicable meanings to such texts. Then, whether or not I might be right, I do see immense values in such writings. Reading and writing remind me that I'm still alive, amidst this life of "conformity".
Way before happenings like this one, far back in the 19th century, Emerson wrote:
"Who can thus avoid all pledges, and having observed, observe again from the unaffected, unbiassed, unbribable, unaffrighted innocence, must always be formidable. He would utter opinions on all passing affairs, which being seen not to be private, but necessary, would sink like darts into the ear of men, and put them in fear.These are the voices we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs." - Ralph Waldo Emerson in 'Self-reliance'
Should one be thinking and repentant, then incidences like "ethnic cleansing" might see their day of diminishment. Yet, old beliefs persist and rivals enlisted for extermination. Should conformity not be of utmost priority, then one perhaps is able to more rationally exert control on one's own life; perpetrators would not be perpetrators, victims can then escape victimization. It is somehow true that grand narratives and abstract theories can no longer stand in "modern" society (since majority prefer pragmatism and structure), yet, I strive to derive applicable meanings to such texts. Then, whether or not I might be right, I do see immense values in such writings. Reading and writing remind me that I'm still alive, amidst this life of "conformity".
