Blithely Accepted Rationales

I was reluctant to comment on secularistic issues since the preemptive strikes spearheaded by the premier force had taken place some four years back. With the recent political upheaval in various countries, religion has once again fallen victim to, and turns out to be the last refuge of, the scoundrel. That struck a chord.

Endorsement of war by evangelicals is no longer of similar effect. In fact, the scriptures suggest thou shalt not kill, thou shalt instead lay down my life for others. A pragmatic approach to look at this conflict would be that the problem surges to the fore when people start taking bad implementations to be the divine dogma. It's a pity pacifism doesn't prevent war or terminate violence. If not, these people could have been the heroes of tomorrow. Till pacifism triumphs one day, I shall keep my fingers crossed that continued foreign occupation does not exacerbate Iraq's already problematic state.

I was just as reluctant to comment on the cruelty of meritocracy in our country as I was in a pretty bad position to do so. As such, I'd fallen prey to the academic system since the beginning of August last year. This predator had long sown deep into our collective psyche. We had always known of it to be a source of collective pride. And to fight it was known to be shocking initially, before finally giving way to collective shame. It all began since the time when the system was for elites to go through a series of rigorous tests, before officially taking on high posts in the legislative world. Obviously, there is a dark subterraneous stream that runs parallel to this shining path. Parents, particularly the poor, slogged their ass off, just to send that bloke in for the shot at the imperial court. More often than not, only the elite few made it for the final spot, leaving the remaining once hopeful with dreaded feelings of lost and despair.

Since we're already at it, let's talk about what eventually happens to the bulk who have been considered to break the sacred oath by failing to make the mark. Reeking of dishonour and shame, some went into exile, some committed suicide while some experience mental unstableness. In line with this, we face the exact same situation till today. If it isn't the same, the situation has certainly intensified. Viewing the world through a single pedagogic lens, we are how we do in school, period. I posed a question to a random friend the other day regarding the potential in the course we pursue. It seemed to me he needed to do a red herring. He claimed he'd be better somewhere else. He didn't have a choice on being where he wanted to be. With that, he looked away, wistfully. That's perhaps the irony and my worry.

A far more muted if typical tragedy is bound to take place soon.

"Striving" ain't no mere idiomatic expression for the hopefuls no more.