Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Dirty Secret about what it means to be human...



I don't care what you say, folks. Two things make us human. One side is the Va. Tech professor who survived a German death camp as a little boy, sacrificing his life to save his students. Kids he really didn't know personally. The side other is Cho.

And that's why the world is the way it is. Think about it. 32 people killed in Blacksburg? Well, 32 people were killed in Baghdad in one evening out of scores of evenings just like it. A thousand women the age of the girls shot at Va. Tech were raped or sold into sexual slavery in one month. A whole generation of children was scattered to the wind in Southern Sudan and Darfur. Someone bumps someone in line to see a film in St. Louis, the other person's in some dumbass rival crew; two young men suddenly lay dead and people who know what happened don't want to "snitch."

The folks who do all of these things, or fail to act to prevent them, thought they were utterly justified. Just like Cho Sueng-Hui thought he was utterly justified in murdering 31 people. Hey, we're only human...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sadly, I give you an A-men.

Anonymous said...

Good post Chris, the only saving grace is that god blessed us with brains in order to figure out how to do this stuff (life) better.

But you are correct part of this is just human nature.

Snowman said...

As you are a novelist I understand why you use this duality theme. It is indeed as old as humanity. But I refuse to believe that these are two co-equal sides. I would say what grew in this killer was something we all carry, but we control it and subdue it. Perhaps being lucky enough to leave in the USA helps some of us. Some of us who are in depressed neighborhoods and cultures on he other hand will see the protective layers stripped away. Even so I again do not believe this is an alter-ego of us. It is just a germ that grows depending on circumstance. I would like to believe that even the people who murder and oppress abroad at least started out good, if only during childhood.

plez... said...

sort of reminds me of the song by Human League, titled "Human."

it's strange and feels a bit odd that we all have the same stuff inside of us, all of us have the same neurons firing across the same synapses (well, i'm not a biology major, but i think that's what happens), we all have the same blood coursing through our veins... but some humans' stuff is just different enough where they will choose death over life, some people's brains are wired such that they choose tears over laughter, and some people's blood is soooo damn cold, that they cannot see the humanity in others.

it's strange... but we're all human.

Anonymous said...

Yes, there are two sides. One good, one evil. You have spotted both. Why can't the media? Why not call evil as it is where it's seen?

Anonymous said...

This mu-fu's parents have been here since 1992 and yet they don't know how to speak English? No wonder he went crazy. It shows you the Mexicans aren't the only problem coming into this country.

Christopher Chambers said...

I am reviewing these comments as I eat my lunch and I was just about to trash the last anonymous post, but this person, coarse as they may be, raises some arguable points.

Thoughts?

Back to my Filet-O'-Fish (hey it's Friday, you heathens...)

Pebbles Flintstone said...

My heart goes out to those families who lost loved ones at Virginia Tech. Good gracious, they all started the day on Monday as a normal day. How quickly things can change. I feel for the victims, but I must say I cannot escape the fact that I feel so, so sorry for the shooter. He seems to have been rejected, and did not have the skills to lift up his self-esteem and socialize and assimilate like most of us do. Of course, we all feel pain, we have all felt rejection. But I cannot imagine how painful it must have been to be this young man. Not to mention that his parents were no help. They should have paid more attention and tried to get him more help.

They are all in my prayers.

Anonymous said...

"Not speaking English" is a self-defense mechanism. Take it from somebody who knows.