Tea, Sympathy, Bin Laden, Jerusalem and Emotions; The Soap Opera of Life

 

        I’m currently listening to Jars of Clay’s “Tea and Sympathy” very depressing. Can you imagine having to leave behind someone who you love dearly? And you cannot tell the truth, the truth which is that you really don’t have any reason to leave that person. Ouch. Yeah, I know, stuff for soap operas. But what are soap operas based on anyway? Real life. In a way. They took real life scenes, added a few cinematics, a theme or two and a lot of corny dialogue. But it really does happen. Just not that, well, as we say here, OA or over acting. People do leave for the weirdest reason. People turn into vengeful, unexplainable monsters just to get what they want. People turn into cowards in the name of love. (shivers momentarily at the clichéd phrase).

 

But what are we supposed to do about it? Sit around, weep and gnash our teeth until the sun refuses to shine? Or until we get what we want? Pretty immature. In fact, one could argue that the reason why all this is happening to us is for us to become mature and responsible adults. Or maybe just for us to grow old. One wonders why one’s problems can seem so heavy and hard to bear when in fact, when viewed in someone else’s point of view, it seems pretty shallow and weak. And sometimes, vise versa. One of the things that we humans have to deal with is emotions. Sometimes it helps us, sometimes it ruins us forever. But one cannot deny the fact that it is one of the greatest factors affecting our lives. Even the most ‘logical’ person in the crowd will still have emotions. There are no Vulcans from Star Trek here yet. Not yet. We are all too human. All too emotional. We fight, we cry, we bicker, we love, we cheat, we kill, we procreate, we live. And the strangest thing is, we haven’t found anything as intense as the human emotion. No fire, no solar flare can match it. No comet ice, no distance from the sun can get as chilly as it either.

 

Being one of the /reluctant/ members of the human race, I find that somehow, emotional responses evoke even more emotional responses. And this is a very interesting matter to think of, because, in a way, it is our emotions that cause wars to happen. And yet, it is these same emotions that ensure the continuity of our species. If one can so harness the power of these emotions, it would be a very great tool…or weapon.

 

Recent distressing matters concerning terrorism, war and death have left a very great scar on the psyche of society. People become paranoid and sometimes over react. There was even this news article that a couple was arrested for holding up a store or something. And then one of them told the police that they were just getting supplies for they were going over to Afghanistan and try to kidnap Bin Laden. It made for a very amusing but ultimately disturbing story. Are people THAT angry now? We all know by personal experience that anger left free floating will ultimately become our undoing. But this united anger against a particular enemy can blind us to the truth. Already the discrimination of Arabs and Arab looking people is not relegated to the United States. Even here in the Philippines. There was once this comic strip that showed one of the characters running in fear from a person who just happened to look Arab. Funny, but it also made fun at the paranoia that grips us all. True that a rotten apple spoils the lot, but it doesn’t automatically mean that all the apples are bad.

 

That is only focusing on the September 11 tragedy. What about the appalling battle in the Promised land? Did not Jesus Christ, the Messiah, walk those same streets that are now filled with dead bodies, bullet shells and hatred and fear? What would He think of His homeland being turned into a war zone? Where not even children and innocent people are spared from the horrors and injustice of war? The bullet is a indiscriminate killer. All the more we cannot blame the instruments of war. Rather, where should the blame go to? To the wielders of these instruments? Or us, for being not interested?

 

Now we are paranoid, terrified and fearful. We doubt every step. In a way, we are trapped in a horrifying soap opera, in which  there is no replays. Only continuity. In every episode there is tragedy, love and hatred and perhaps even death. As each episode ends, we watch with disturbed eyes the words, “To be Continued” flash across our screens. Our fear about when it will end, but even more is our terror at the fact that it MIGHT end.

       

But not all soap operas end bad. Some of them actually have a fairytale ending. But I, a bit disillusioned and perhaps a little hopeful than the masses, am simply hoping for a good ending. In which we all learn a lesson. But then again, we are still writing the script to the soap opera called life.

 

 

Reactions to the rant? I’d love to hear what you’d like to say. If you really do make a point or just amuse me (which is very easy. I’m a Shallow person) I’ll post it up here as well. Send it to [email protected] with the Title of the rant as your subject tag.