urban stampede

nothing could be more contrary than the holiday that is thanksgiving. how does one justify eating turkey (not to mention the fact that at least 50 million turkeys are slaughtered during thanksgiving each year) as giving thanks and being grateful for the year that has passed? how is thanksgiving a religious holiday when it was actually celebrated by a bunch of settlers from europe 400 years ago? most importantly, how do you give thanks and count your blessings and be happy with what you have when a few hours later, almost every american family goes off on a spending spree as if they are not happy with what they presently have and must have even more after devouring their turkeys. it's as if a hunger of a different sort has awaken within them when they feast on the poor birds.

this hunger shows us how ugly the human species can become when they turn selfish and greedy. it is sad to see that thousands of people trampled a walmart employee to death out of the need to save a couple of hundred of dollars. it is even sadder to see that, out of that thousand of people, not one stopped to help the worker or to seek medical attention for him. instead, all of them rushed in and stepped on even more employees who had tried to help their colleague.

while americans feasted on stuffed birds and celebrated a holiday, hundreds of people were killed in the streets of mumbai. i wonder how many americans were actually aware of this unfortunate event and actually stopped to mourn for the dead and counting their blessings instead of rushing off to the nearest electronic store.

the dark nature in us is always there, hidden sometimes by a facade of kindness towards the people we care. but the truth is, the dark nature is always there. while we deny it, we know that we are nice to the people we love because these people are somewhat "our own". we hardly care what happens to the people over in iraq or the girl who was raped or the store that closed down because of the economy. no, we do not care much for these at all because we are all selfish in nature. i do not deny that there are selfless individuals who make the world a better place but in reality, all of us are only human and no matter what, everyone is greedy, snobbish and self-centered to a certain degree. i only hope that the people who were in the walmart store, who had caused the death of another are human enough to feel miserable and sorry for what they have done.