Man developed. On the face of it this statement sounds incomplete and is in fact so, as it leaves the basic question “To What?” unanswered. We, however do not have the right to ask this question, as we really do not realize the implications of such a question.
It is the question of centuries, a question raised by philosophers only to be dealt with in a childish manner, to give unnatural answers. It is a question that has resounded in the aisles of history, whispered in the leaves of time. It is the question that we all have the answer to but are fatally unable to confess to ourselves the reality of our parasitic existence. We live in a monstrous world where “respect” is “fear”, “admiration” is “envy” and “pity” is a “virtue”…a world where we bow down to the escapists, who ran away in fear of fighting it out, and worship them, considering renunciation as the identity of a higher spirit.
Facts, irrevocable truths lie naked in front of us, yet we choose to look the other way…axioms irrefutable in their honest finality are ignored for the “public good”. Sometimes, I am filled with helplessness, frustration and anger at the fact that we live in a world where most of our basic premises are flawed and contradictory…on the basis of which we can easily pass judgements of “right” and “wrong”, premises which more often than not are against human nature, yet we do not question…we accept.
How many of us can accept the fact that we give someone a gift not for the pleasure of the person but for the pleasure of “me” giving it to that person. It is self-indulgence and accepting the fact that there is nothing wrong with it is true virtue. Our souls are twisted beyond repair, blackened with the perversions of human weakness and we look at other degenerates for support…to convince us that we are the real humans, and being in pain is a glory to be worn as a medal…to earn pity as the rightful payment…to gang up on the few individuals with untainted souls, with their ability and capacity of being happy as their only weapon, like a swarm of locusts and suck them dry…not for the joy of defeating a greater opponent after having fought a battle but for the guilty pleasure of killing a mighty hero under the guise of a friend in the dead of night when he was sleeping. The most monstrous thing even more evil than this (if it is possible) is that we do it under the garb of self righteousness when we really do it out of fear.
The lights are going out, the lights that drove nations to their glory, lights of rationality, lights of the ability of men…they are being extinguished by the terrible moral axiom of “we need to give to the poor, because he
needs it.” It is as if the impractical, general idea of his need granted him all the rights on the property of a man’s ability. We see a sculptor or a painter dying of starvation, yet not asking for pity or help, because he is confused as to why, he can’t survive, as he is sure that he has every right to survive, as he offers a trade of food in exchange of his work. His dedication and ability in exchange of their payment, but we refuse to pay him, because in this world ability is a flaw, so we pay those who use their pain, problems and have-nots as a certificate of their right to get without offering anything in return. The fault is not at being needy (need here does not just mean the need of money it encompasses all needs of humans), the crime is in making it a weapon using someone else’s pity for him as a lifeline for existence. The only yardstick that should exist is ability and a man’s capacity to experience pride in his achievement. Nowadays, it is an accepted notion that success is attributed to the “people”-----the nameless, faceless multitude who crawl out of the woodwork to take every benefit that they can take and yet drawl on the injustice, of how unfair life has been to him-------this is the man plaguing us today, this is the man against whom we have to safeguard ourselves.
Two things in this world had led me to think of this disease growing in mankind and feel the horror of what would be the fate of the world…They were “the strike of the mind” explained by John Galt created by Ayn Rand and a song by Kabir Suman called “Magoje Curfew”(the curfew in the brain). I cannot imagine a “mind”-less society where there is no purpose, where men feed on the ability of another, where the blame game is a part of the day…yet, I live in one.
We still debate “Money is the root of all evil” in non-absolute terms, somewhere believing in it but we would be ostracized and devastated if somebody would tell us that “Money has always been the source of all good”. It stands for the best quality in us---to produce and to trade and take value for one’s ability, take ownership of it. I can’t help quoting Ayn Rand again---“Money requires that you sell your talent to the other’s reason…it is the symbol of man’s goodwill”. The words on a banknote “I promise to pay the bearer a sum of—” are the most profound words of human history, they are not the words of the beggar who gives excuses and blames the universe for his inability to produce but it a tribute to the man who takes pride in his ability to act and to produce.
Thomas Moore talked of Utopia, here’s what I think of it, Utopia is a land where no man is afraid of another because of his ability of being greater than him, and where people do not leave life to the hopelessness of the fact that death is inevitable but makes that the reason to live for all that is worth. What can I say—
“You may say that I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one. I hope someday you will join us and the world will live as one”— one with a purpose.
[P.S. Sometimes, I wish there really was a Galt Gulch— forgive my moment of weakness Ms. Ayn Rand]
