Bloodsport is the name of the game
IT is a cruel world out there today and more than a single Hot Spot. Perhaps the most depressing news refers to the casual and coldblooded killing of 85 tribals massacred by the IS. This bloodletting just does not seem to stop and even the US led assault on its strongholds seem to be of little avail. Once ensconced in urban enclaves getting rid of the cadres is almost impossible without severely generating collateral damage. This is going to be a long and painful conflict because truth be told no one really has a key to the solution. Clearly, there is no negotiations possible and there is no meeting point where the violence can be silenced. How do you bring a crusade to the table?
To add to the bleakness a bomber kills 9 security personnel in Kabul, another 25 are killed in Pakistan clashes with militants and in Sri Lanka Nature decides to chip in and bury scores of people under mud. And the Ebola virus, like some primeval ooze continues to threaten as no cure is found. Clashes in Occupied Jerusalem spiral again over the weekend and negotiations stumble along crippled by a lack of a timeline and any sense of purpose. In Iraq the toll passes 1300 for the month without any sign of letting up and the battle for Kobani is still ongoing. Even the adventurers have a bad day as Virgin Galactic crashes and kills its pilot and dents a Branson dream.
For the world, all these are mere clinical headlines, having little or no impact. They just tumble past the eye causing no change of pace. The brain’s circuitry has already gone into overload and the numbers of dead, the thousands of injured, the displaced legions of women and children count for nothing. Even empathy has sort of dried up and a blanket of gloom suffocates feeling.
It has historically been asked that if we look into the abyss does the abyss look back at us? Yes, it does and it is a totally dark an unlit place sans hope and love. And,as a world, we are hurtling toward it, unmindful of the sad legacy that will be handed to the next generation.
We are killing peace with desperate swiftness and no guilt. Reminds me of Mark Anthony’s speech at Caesar’s funeral even as the world lies comatose in ICU. And dip their napkins in his sacred blood, Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, And dying, mention it within their wills, Bequeathing it as a rich legacy Unto their issue. Is this what we want in the second decade of the 21st century?