Are our dreams vanished?

At 17, I had to write and orally present an argument essay on a topic of my choice. It was 1979 (the age of Aquarius?, some cynics might gibe) and I chose a subject related to nonviolence being a remedy to most of our international issues. I remember taking the examples of three different countries and three similar emblematic figures: Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Thirty-seven years later, I still remain inspired by these three pacifist leaders.

Even today. As Berlin mourns for the loss of German citizens, I wonder where humanism, compassion and tolerance have gone. When I was a teenager, I thought I was living in troubled times but I had this confident hope that new Kings, new Gandhis and new Mandelas would peacefully stand up for the rights of the oppressed. I somehow had faith in the advent of a fresh awareness era. I do not know whether it is because I am at the change of life but I have lost that conviction. My high ideals have been drowned in the present sea of mediocrity. The world today leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. It seems like our ability to think, dispute and buck the trend has substantially been shrinking. Where have our dreams run away?

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” (Martin Luther King)

All those powerful speeches, all those words of wisdom still echo in my mind. Though I sometimes feel like we have been giving up our visions for a better world. Excessive capitalism and greed have caused more pollution. We are consuming in order to keep others busy producing and we are producing in order to keep others busy consuming. Why? Not sure we know why. Things are not making us happier. They are keeping us busy and preventing us from thinking and being profound. Things are depriving us from our humanity. And filling the gaps in our lives. We are scared of the void are we not?

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Reading this quote from Gandhi, we must believe that kind people are everywhere on this planet. They may be few but but their voices cannot be silenced by bombs and killing truck drivers. Their words will never be erased from human hearts. Now is the time to listen.

“As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.” (Nelson Mandela)

As Mandela states it, poverty and injustice are the stumbling block and as long as inequality persists, violence will devastate our societies. Words like equality, tolerance, peace, justice or freedom may sound like hackneyed notions to those who have deleted the term “human” from their vocabulary. Let us keep on rejoicing, dreaming, smiling and laughing, resisting and questioning, thinking and learning because these are acts of bravery nowadays. And because it is thoroughly human.

Orlando state of mind

My heart is grieving for the victims and their familly in Orlando.
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

Brussels, the days after

Toy guns targeted after Paris attacks

Geoff Charles (Dolgellau Fair 1956)

As a consequence of heinous acts of terrorism in Paris, Toys ‘R’ Us stores are temporarily withdrawing toy guns from sale in France.

Less plastic pistols, less violence.  This does not make any sense to me, firstly because it appears as a temporary decision (a truce?). Second, because brutal video games are not targeted.

I was a tomboy and fond of all kinds of dummy weapons. I had a large collection of plastic replicas, from cowboy pistols to bows and suction cup arrows. Like many kids, I fought against imaginary enemies. I do not believe all those children (including myself) turned out to be serial killers or even guns addicts,  later in their life.

So playing with a toy rifle is temporarily bad but virtual killing in a video games is OK…

Illogically, video games like “Grand Theft Auto” or “Call Of Duty” are not removed from the shops. I suppose that profits raised by electronic games are juicier than by plastic toys. So playing with a toy rifle is temporarily bad but virtually killing cyber people in a realistic video game is always OK.

I am certainly not stating that warlike video games have necessarily an impact on young minds, nor do I want to demonize video games. Those games could perhaps work as a way to let off steam  but on the other hand,  they are getting us used to extreme violence, to a trivialization of violence. They may even have an influence on our emotional intelligence. Could they reduce our empathy or make us numb in the long run? Or am I simply getting old and obsolete?

Jihadists have surely been exposed to video games, like most kids today and most youngsters will grow up to be responsible and sensible human beings. A record held by Prevention Center against Sectarian Drifts related to Islam (CPDSI in French), claims that video games like “Assassin’s Creed” and “Call of Duty” may lead to “leaving for a real confrontation” (Le Figaro, Nov. 11, 2014). However, the subject remains controversial: “Violent Video Games Are Linked To Aggression, Study Says But There Are Not Enough Evidence To Suggest That They Are Linked To Criminal Behavior.” (Time, August 17, 2015).

Plastic guns may not have an impact on young minds (unless they’re weak-minded) but they do have a HUGE impact on our environment. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch located in the North Pacific Gyre off the coast of California, has become the largest ocean garbage site in the world. Twice the size of the State of Texas, this massive trash patch is sadly not the only one. The North Atlantic Garbage Patch is hundreds kilometers long and drawing off 200,000 pieces of debris per square kilometer. The Indian Ocean Garbage Patch was discovered in 2010. In fact, there are trash vortices in the five major oceans. (From “Life in plastic, not so fantastic”) To my opinion, this is the main and urgent issue. Just saying.©

Where is the way out?

What is wrong with the world? I wonder if the word “human” still bears a meaning. This may seem like commonplace statements and it is but I am shattered. Again. Like most of us. Like we were when “Charlie Hebdo” had been the target of terrorism, last January. Barbarism and terror are not opinions nor ideologies. Therefore these cannot be condoned by freedom of thought. Savagery does not belong to a system of thought. Heinousness is no belief.

Killing people does not draw slayers closer to God or Allah or whoever. It brings killers closer to the void. We are one. We share the same humanity, don’t we? Don’t we? We are made of flesh and blood. We are supposed to be sensitive beings. Just like the other animals.There is however not a single animal who would kill because it cannot bear another animal’s existence. Or because it favors death over life. Are we the ultimate toxic species?

Sometimes I wish there was an exit sign.