“𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣.”
This song has been playing in my head over and over since Thursday. It’s called “Zombie” by the band “The Cranberries”. It was a direct response to bombings that took place in Warrington, a town in Chesire, England in 1993. It claimed the lives of Jonathan Ball, who was just 3 years old, and Tim Parry, who was just 12.
Jonathan Ball was with his baby-sitter and they were shopping for a “Mother’s Day” card when one of the bombs exploded. He immediately died at the scene. Tim Parry made it to the hospital, but they had to switch off his life support, 5 days after the brutal incident, when they saw no sign of improvement on his brain activities.
Did they know why their lives were taken? No.
Did their families deserve what happened? No.
They didn’t have anything to do with the war, but they paid the price.
And the culprits thought that to prove a point, they had to take innocent lives.
They say “if you want peace, prepare for war”. That’s a saying I’d never understand. How can someone be at “peace” when so many lives are taken after a “war”?
𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 “𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝” - I think these are the reasons why people choose “war” over “peace”. We didn’t have the “social media” that we have now in 1993. And you’d think that since it’s gotten easier to connect and reach people all over the world, it’d be easier to “talk” and get your message across. You’d think that it’d be easier to understand and respect each other’s opinions and points of view. But you’re wrong. The truth is, just when it’s gotten so much easier to “connect”, it feels like everyone seems so much more “disconnected”. That’s “irony” at its finest.
Now, “social media” - is it a curse or a gift? I used to think that it’s the latter. But social media browsing feels a lot more like a curse lately. So I step away from it longer than I used to. People waging their own wars against those with different beliefs, they hate on people who they used to be “friends” with simply because they support different electoral candidates. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 “𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬” 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲 “𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭” 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 “𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤.”
Imagine, someone’s entire belief system is based on lies and events that never really happened - and they lose friends or even relatives over it. All these people who do not know how to validate legit news over made-up stories really, truly baffle me. This generation has the easiest access to knowledge, but it seems like people get more stupid every day in spite of that.
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭? Think of this question the next time you start hating on someone just because you have different opinions and beliefs on something. May be then you’d realize that talking calmly to a person who has a different point of view or opinion than you can actually be enlightening.
We live in a world full problems bigger than what we fight about in social media. Problems that our “keyboards” can’t fix. And if animals in a “forest” can all co-exist and live in peace, why can’t we?
Imagine a world where people really take time to get to know one another on a deeper level, a world where people don’t hate on someone just because they believe in different things, a world where people do not judge other people base on the color of their skin, a world where leaders truly support each other without any personal gain and agenda - don’t you think it’d be nice to live in a world like that?
When we curse hateful words just because we feel like it, we must be mistaken.
When we’re making enemies, but losing more friends in the process, we must be mistaken.
When we’re trying to change history by attempting to simply repeat what happened in the past, we must be mistaken.
And as Dolores O’Riordan put it -
“𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣.”
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