The Virus of Cynicism

It is indeed a universe of chaos, where there are more doubts and uncertainties than the world has ever dreamt of. We live in a world which seems to be governed by the Lord of the Flies and not by any ring, magic wand or a talking lion. In the human world which is intrinsically bad and inherently evil, there is still goodness, and even as I am surprised that there is at least a little bit of the same, there is such an existence, and a more significant thing is that a lot of people believe in the same.

There have been certain incidents which have lead me to feel that may be people can actually trust each other in this world. It is not that people are regularly breaking my trust – I am a cynic, because I have seen so many people going through the selfish path; yes, we all might choose such a road at some point of time, but when we see that so often and as the only path that some people travel through with no chance of even one wrong turn that makes them differ, cynicism takes over.

The humans are grown in a world of chaos, aren’t they? (Pic from The Matrix official FB page)

There are a few occasions when I wondered how people can afford to trust others so much in a world where people are judged by their money and achievements. The first one was when a random person who didn’t know Malayalam, English or Hindi trusted me to lead him to the bus station and into the right bus. I traveled with him and made sure that he was going towards the right destination. Sticking to my cynical self, I would have never even thought about asking a stranger, and might go around asking at least three people before getting into a bus, plus I would ask and confirm if he or she is hundred percent sure about it.

The second one was when a random elderly person asked me for help to withdraw his money from an ATM machine. But in my case, I wouldn’t trust any person to be even near me when I am using it. I keep checking my surroundings if there is some possible thief waiting somewhere, and if I can’t withdraw the money, I would just drop all the plans. So, as soon as his job seemed to be done, I rushed out of there without waiting for a thank you, because I was a cynic and will never approve his idea as to trusting the stranger. I was actually afraid that someone else might not do it rightly for him.

Then there is the case of people borrowing books from me, and it is not that much of a different case, as there are people who haven’t given them back to me and hence the case justified. So, when I give them books, nowadays I believe that I won’t get them back, and so if they return them, it is just a bonus. There is no difference in the case of CDs and DVDs. I have wondered which is that point where there comes the part from where we can begin trusting people. Yes, I do trust my good friends, but that trust doesn’t come from nowhere, but rises from situations and after a lot of time.

Only if controlling the idea could be done through dreams (Photo from The Inception FB page)

The same has been the case with me since childhood; when I was a kid studying in around the fourth standard, I gave a friend a video game, and when it was asked back, his mother asked “Why did you give it to him? It is why this has happened”. There marks the beginning of my cynicism. I have still trusted too many people unconditionally in my life, but more incidents have lead to the spreading of this idea about trust like a virus, and it has been growing inside me, not allowing me to trust people in general. I don’t believe that people have good intentions in general, and that idea is something which had a slow growth inside me.

But it has helped me to be more careful and not to expect much from people. If a break of trust happens, I will always be ready for it, and there will be no complaints from my side, and that much I can be sure about. I don’t have much hope or expectations, but I am more than just willing to do my job with sincerity while keeping my expectations low. We should do what we have to, and bad things will happen, but lets go on with what we do. We just can’t make people trustworthy, or be good. It is not within our power. It has helped me to try and be more sincere to others, as the world might not be.

TeNy

Story of a Purge

There is something about the new generation people. They are angry, not just plain angry, but so angry that they need to go serial killer on their own people, even their friends and relatives. In that case, what is the chance of the common man whom they witness on the streets? Beware, people; the angry young men can take you on, and be careful when dealing with these people. You don’t know what they are capable of with the anger and frustration which have been going through them.

Some time ago, I had read something about a group of young men abusing and beating up an older man just because they found his vehicle ahead of their “super” automobile. This can’t be considered much different from what the cricket fans have been doing to Maria Sharapova, and yet this is also a case of disrespect to the elders which is the result of “spare the rod and spoil the child”, and the parents also suffer from a child who is not rightly disciplined, and it is such a shame.

This is where the movie The Purge comes to the picture. The angry young men need to purge their emotions and earlier they had chosen Sharapova for the same. A higher option is surely the life of crime and this movie talks about the need for a bigger purge, which means that people won’t have to abuse someone at frequent intervals, like Keralites have been doing with Renjini Haridas, Sreesanth, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Aashiq Abu. It is a shame that it has become so difficult to control negative emotions, and the need for such a purge is rather disgusting.

The purgers demanding their right to purge or abuse & kill (screenshot from the movie)

Coming back to the movie, it has a period of twelve hours every year set as the time for the purge in which every crime goes. All things become legal, and some people will have the resources to defend while the others will just have to become the victims. The number of purgers will be a lot more than expected, and even your best friends or relatives can kill you. It is a terrible situation, and all this hatred and abuse which is going on in the Facebook pages is actually a kind of purge, a harbinger of something worse.

The Purge has lots of elements which should terrorize people, with the absence of any feeling of remorse or regret among the purgers, the blood and gore, as well as the declaration that these criminals are good, educated youth. That should bring a question about the point of education as we have seen what kind of words a group of literate people use on Facebook, but that would be another story. Here, the purge is about the absence of a heart and a soul.

The Purge has a terrible thing at its centre. The idea of such a purge itself is horrifying, but in the end, this movie is a violent movie with a message against all kinds of violence and has a stance for equality and kindness among all. We all have the tendency towards violence and it can’t be ignored. But the problem is that people only care about violence happening towards their own, or those who are kind of like their own. Otherwise, these people seems to find it okay, and it is impossible for them to realize that it happens both ways.

Yes, the purgers are the educated youth (screenshot from the movie)

The tendency for violence will only increase among the upcoming generation as they are introduced to the world of blood and gore at such an early age. They are not disciplined and live the way they want to. Therefore, it is natural to get abused just because some young person rams the car into yours and start abusing you even as it is clearly their fault. You can’t argue with them, as they don’t listen to the voice of reason, and the new tendency is to completely avoid the word of God.

TeNy.