It's never too late

As a child, I was brought up to be responsible for my actions. All my actions had consequences, consequences that I had to deal with, learn from.

I read 'The Rape of Nanking' as a young teenager. The parts that captured my attention and stuck with me were obviously those of the atrocious war crimes that the Japanese committed against the Chinese. The horror stories of the rapes, the massacres, the bloodshed... They opened my eyes to the possibility that although we are a species built with reason, our baser instincts involve nothing more than a power struggle and it truly does boil down to the 'survival of the fittest' in times of despair and hardship.

Today, I picked up the book again. Probably an after-effect of watching 'City of Way - The Story of John Rabe'. I've always been a bit of a WW2 buff. Both of the European and Asian side. History has always fascinated me in a way that people also do. To be able to understand why some people did what they did would perhaps shed some light on things that we in today's context should and shouldn't do. However, history is also bound to repeat itself; something that only increases its worth.

So, I've only barely scraped through the introduction when I realised the most important point of this book. Something that probably enters and flew from my mind at similar rates all those years ago when I first glanced at the book's title. It irritates me to no end that even up to this day, the Japanese are denying the atrocities that they have committed.

Why do we, as an ENTIRE world, let them get away with it? I understand that the past is in the past, and truly, it should remain there for all intents and purposes, but can this truly be morally acceptable?

Of course, the question I pose is a hypothetical one. I know the answer to the first question. It is simply: Politics. The word of fuel that runs the entire world, the only word capable of praising, insulting, killing, bringing hope, bringing life, bringing anger, pain and suffering.

As our species evolved, we developed systems, and structures, and rules. And we claim that these structures will help us to rule better. But perhaps, now we should realise that the structures are ruling us.

70 years. The time period between now and when the first inklings of war started to loom over the heads of our ancestors is now an old man. An old man who is supposed to have garnered wisdom and passed down ideas and stories to his children and grandchildren, hoping they'll learn from him, in good and bad ways, repeating the good, remembering the bad. And yet, this 'old man' hasn't learnt a single good thing. This 'old man' will continue to live in constant denial, teaching his children and his children's children that it is alright to do bad things to people. For as long as you do good things for other people, the bad things will not seem so bad, and you and the people for whom you did good deeds shall live in peace and harmony. And the people to whom you have wronged? Well, fuck 'em.

So congratulations. We live in a world that is in itself hypocritical and full of sketchy morals that only hold true if and when it is convenient. Every human being is the same. Inside, we are all self-serving. We only do things if we know there will be benefits. We're not idiots. That's how we survive. And in the end, perhaps, that's the same thing that will kill us all.