A struggle to be a moral human being – the mirror never

I HAD coffee last week with an alien being from outer space. This extraordinary event happened in a well-visited coffee shop near Parliament. He is from some planet about 89 light years away from Earth, but apparently light years are antiquarian talk.

He told me that they indulge in dialogues of mystic periods, apparently much, much more appropriate in this phase of the cosmic race heading for unknown dark depths. Graveyards of time spent, birthplaces of new unthought of horizons.

He was flabbergasted and bombarded me with some difficult ques- tions. You earthlings have representatives that talk politics on your behalf. A democratic dispensation, he gathered.

But what is the use of all this passionate talk as the final score remains forever one-sided. Here you have guys in power on the strength of a majority of voters that trust them with their political well-being.

So their representatives toe party lines with closed minds. They don’t question their own position, their underlying ideology, their subconscious, subjective wishes, their leaders, the consequences of decisions taken for the unfolding future. When asked to vote yes, they do. When asked to vote no, they do. They don’t have the well-being of others different to their kind at heart. The embracing of evolving humanity.

I understand, the alien said, that you earthlings render loyalty sky-high. What about morals? What about ethics? Unscrutinised loyalty does not take complexity of evolving life as the delicate and precious thread that must be debated, cherished, and then to vote on moral grounds for ways to advance the well-being of all human, and animal, and organic life as such. It rather seems more like political battlefields to ensure myopic self-interest, base survival of the own interest group at all costs. To the detriment of others that don’t see life in the same manner, pleading another way of taking things forward.

Do these representatives sweat at night about the difficulties of life and how to find kind and dedicated ways to help humanity forward? Or does it remain easy stuff ? Yes, when asked, or no? What will these guys see in the mirror at the end of their lives? So the alien asked, as if I could answer. Evil, ignorance, shrewd dedication, or a humane struggle to be a moral human being? The final mirror never lies.