Is this what we have become.....?

I’m so ashamed. Ashamed of mankind. And who in God’s name came up with that word, mankind? What is so kind about man?

Yesterday, I saw something on CNN that horrified me. And brought tears to my eyes. Even now, more than 24 hours later, there is a lump in my throat as I try to make sense of it and put into words what I am feeling. The images are seared into my memory. Perhaps forever. Right alongside those of Qutubuddin Ansari pleading for his life during the Gujarat riots.

CNN was reporting an incident that took place in Iraq. No, not another bomb explosion or riot or whatever it is that comes to our mind when we think of that poor war ravaged country. It was not something that had to do with the US troops or the fight against occupancy. There is no way that anyone could justify it or relate it with the ongoing turmoil in Iraq. But it probably had everything to do with the war. It probably is a consequence of the war. Probably.
( Read the whole story on http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/22/iraq.boy/)

A 5-year old boy, Youssif, playing outside his house, in the street right in front of it in fact, was doused with gasoline by a group of men and set on fire. By whom? Why? No one knows. And in all possibility, no one will ever know.

But what we do know is that the boys’ life has been changed forever. His childhood has been robbed of all the joy and innocence there ever could be. For the rest of his life, he will have no memory of his childhood, save that of the fateful moment. He will forever feel the searing heat and forever see the flames. The worst scars he will carry won’t be the ones on his face and hands.

No one will ever be able to tell him why he was set on fire. Why he was tortured. Because we ourselves will never understand the hideous act. I cannot even begin to comprehend the level of viciousness and sadism involved. I cannot see a single reason that would justify brutality against a child. Any child. What on earth would cause a human being to commit an act of such evil and barbaric act of aggression on an innocent child? I am sure that the men who committed this brutality don’t have an explanation either. Yes, they may have a reason, or they may think they have one, but they cannot explain it. I refuse to believe they can. But I pray that whatever the reason, there was a reason. No matter how flimsy. Because, if there was none, and this was a random act of aggression, then the bestiality of it has made me lose all hope for mankind.

The report carried an interview with the boys mother. She talked of the horror she was living. She had taken a huge risk coming on air and talking about this. But her sons life and future weighed more than her own.

But there is some consolation in the fact that the plight of this family has gained widespread attention, and there is hope that there will be aid soon.( Read comments on CNN site)Doctors from outside Iraq will probably help to reconstruct Youssifs face and bring back some semblance of sanity and cheer to his shattered life. People who have seen and/or read the report have been horrified and moved in the same way I have. There is hope that there will be some relief for little Youssif soon.

That news report on CNN made me realize that we have reached a new low. And by ‘we’, I mean us, human beings. Mankind as a whole. Yes, there are many horrible things taking place out there in big bad world. And, God forbid, there may be worse things happening right this minute. But this has affected me in a way that I cannot even begin to explain. It has simply left me shaken to the core, rocked all my beliefs and shattered all my illusions about what the world is coming to.

What separates us from animals is not our intelligence, or the opposable thumb, or the fact that we have (religions and) spiritual issues, but our capacity for mindless violence. While animals hunt for food and attack when threatened, we humans wreak havoc, and spread death and destruction on an unimaginable scale, simply because we are capable of doing it.