Indifferent oceans

I wonder why the crowd is moving slow, as I alight from the bridge on a metro station on a rainy day. Then, I see a boy putting up a performance right on the left side of the stairs to attract attention. He has to earn a living by begging. A few steps down on the right, a street dog is sprawled in peaceful slumber, oblivious to the commotion around him. He has to rest after staying awake through the night. The crowd continues to negotiate its way out, bypassing the live roadblocks.

Those two dominate my thoughts, as I open my laptop and settle down with a steaming cup of coffee. Their lives remain untouched by the surge of so-called humanity around them. Existence and survival continue to be a day-to-day battle.

I walk out of the gate in the evening, and see a few people bashing up a guy mercilessly, as he begs forgiveness. A motley crowd gathers around them, but nobody intervenes.

Silent thoughts of the onlookers –

Maybe the victim has done something horrible.

Why get embroiled with goons? It endangers our safety.

Well, maybe the victim was as guilty as the attackers. What comes through clearly is a total failure of the law and order machinery. A section of the population feels compelled to render justice on their own, or establish their goon power to terrify others into submission. There is a much larger section of the population which watches it silently, as they go about their own lives.

Are we really connected, or happen to be islands in humanity? Mistrust or lack of trust are the chains that bind us, and indifference is the ocean we float on.

 

Tale Weaver #181