Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
YEARS ago, slaves were thrown into the arena at the Colosseum only to be ripped apart and devoured by lions; a spectacle that drew hundreds of blood-crazed, entertainment-thirsty Romans that jeered and taunted the helpless victims.
The knowledge that people derive pleasure out of others' pain, leaves me with a nauseating blood rush and a sour aftertaste.
'Let bygones, be bygones' - you say?
Then it is only reasonable that my blood boiled when I rolled upon the newspaper to find the headlines 'Man kills himself on Live Internet Broadcast', followed by a quick paragraph on how his 'viewers' were egging him on, ridiculing that he would actually go through with it.
Save for a few sane users who chose to try and talk him out of it and called for help, the majority prodded him with their words and sneered at him with sardonic comments that were apparently supposed to show how witty they thought they were.
So, has the human race just come down to that? A pack of ravenous lions. Or better yet, mocking spectators, stocked with popcorn and acid tongues.
Why do we laugh at others' downfalls? Why do we smile at the sorrows of others?
Is it human nature? Or is it selfishness born out of a materialistic attitude that seems to have sprung up around the turn of the century?
We all talk about a better world, a better tomorrow, but really, who are the first ones to laugh at the plight of the 'losers'?
It's bad enough that the man publicised his own death - but he had problems, that no one was helping him solve. And even down to the dying minutes of his life, with so many people watching, he got goading, eager eyes and no helping hands.
We shouldn't blame him, we should blame ourselves for being hypocrites, saying we want to save the world and then ordering endangered species for dinner. We really are the root of all our problems, but we can change.
Whether you believe it or not, we really can make the world a better place. It is up to us and as Michael Jackson once sang:
If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change.
