It's an interesting exercise attempting to make light of a tragedy. There's a lot of them these days. Quite a lot, depending on one's definition of the word.
For example, it was quite the tragedy when my friend died. She passed in her sleep at the ripe old age of ... all of twenty-two. By all accounts - including my own - she was a rare jewel in an often dark world.
It is also a tragedy when a drunk driver mows down innocent lives, and when he/she doesn't get much more than a slap on the wrist to show for it. I doubt there's much shortage of this particular event anywhere in the world.
Each and every rape in India (and, indeed, around the world) is a tragedy on its own. Taken all together, the sheer number is a tragedy of tragedies.
The downing of MH17 is no less of a tragedy, as much as was the disappearance of its sister flight MH370. At this point I'm basically out of words to express it effectively.
And this was only a couple of electrons grazed off of a chip from a sliver off of a chunk that's close to, but not quite up against, a block that is rather near the tip of the ever-growing iceberg. For a sense of scale, give this little visualization a peek.
Oh, also America's prison system. That's rather tragic in its own right.
The question arises: How do we prioritize resources to solve things when everything is equal in magnitude?
Apparent tangent: There's oodles of research on the fact that human willpower, much like a muscle, can be overtaxed. Even without research, most people with enough presence of mind will intuitively know this. When I, for example, know in my gut that I shouldn't buy that chocolate bar - but I'm stressed at the end of the day and I really need it to unwind.
Reconciling the tangent: It takes willpower to care about things that are not directly related to oneself, regardless of how obvious the tragedy is.
My friend mused:
"What's with all the planes these days?"
She was, of course, referring to, in chronological order, the disappearance of flight MH370, the shooting-down-by-missile of MH17, and the crash of Air Algerie flight AH5017.
My response, which was my first instinct (we'll discuss later the morality of my instincts):
"Gravity decided it needed help getting rid of its detractors."
My alternate response would have been: "The Bermuda Triangle is starting to branch out."
Yes, I am a horrible human being, apparently. I've said it, and I will defend that statement.
But, actually, no, I'm not.
Remember what I said about willpower? Yeah, that thing.
There's only so many crashed airplanes one can stomach at the end of the year.
There's only so many burglaries one can deal with at the end of the month.
There's only so many rape cases one can come to terms with at the end of the week.
At some point, someone, somewhere, is raising their hands to the heavens in frustration and seriously considering demolishing the entire planet.
... Or maybe that last is just me?
I'm fairly certain I've mentioned to several people a simple fact: if I started taking life really seriously, I'd probably go insane. This is one reason why.
I make the jokes I can, because if I don't then I'm just going to devolve into an emotionless hulk. It gives me a reprieve, however temporary, from the reality that is life. It allows me to take a moment to remember that I do care about people after all.
And you know what? I would do the same even if I myself were to be a passenger on an ill-fated airline. Assuming I had the presence of mind to do so in such a situation, of course - because humor, unfortunately, also requires willpower, and I doubt a plummeting fuselage is a place well-known for its mind-strengthening vibe.
------------------------------
I wonder how many people get the joke in the title.
For example, it was quite the tragedy when my friend died. She passed in her sleep at the ripe old age of ... all of twenty-two. By all accounts - including my own - she was a rare jewel in an often dark world.
It is also a tragedy when a drunk driver mows down innocent lives, and when he/she doesn't get much more than a slap on the wrist to show for it. I doubt there's much shortage of this particular event anywhere in the world.
Each and every rape in India (and, indeed, around the world) is a tragedy on its own. Taken all together, the sheer number is a tragedy of tragedies.
The downing of MH17 is no less of a tragedy, as much as was the disappearance of its sister flight MH370. At this point I'm basically out of words to express it effectively.
And this was only a couple of electrons grazed off of a chip from a sliver off of a chunk that's close to, but not quite up against, a block that is rather near the tip of the ever-growing iceberg. For a sense of scale, give this little visualization a peek.
Oh, also America's prison system. That's rather tragic in its own right.
The question arises: How do we prioritize resources to solve things when everything is equal in magnitude?
Apparent tangent: There's oodles of research on the fact that human willpower, much like a muscle, can be overtaxed. Even without research, most people with enough presence of mind will intuitively know this. When I, for example, know in my gut that I shouldn't buy that chocolate bar - but I'm stressed at the end of the day and I really need it to unwind.
Reconciling the tangent: It takes willpower to care about things that are not directly related to oneself, regardless of how obvious the tragedy is.
My friend mused:
"What's with all the planes these days?"
She was, of course, referring to, in chronological order, the disappearance of flight MH370, the shooting-down-by-missile of MH17, and the crash of Air Algerie flight AH5017.
My response, which was my first instinct (we'll discuss later the morality of my instincts):
"Gravity decided it needed help getting rid of its detractors."
My alternate response would have been: "The Bermuda Triangle is starting to branch out."
Yes, I am a horrible human being, apparently. I've said it, and I will defend that statement.
But, actually, no, I'm not.
Remember what I said about willpower? Yeah, that thing.
There's only so many crashed airplanes one can stomach at the end of the year.
There's only so many burglaries one can deal with at the end of the month.
There's only so many rape cases one can come to terms with at the end of the week.
At some point, someone, somewhere, is raising their hands to the heavens in frustration and seriously considering demolishing the entire planet.
... Or maybe that last is just me?
I'm fairly certain I've mentioned to several people a simple fact: if I started taking life really seriously, I'd probably go insane. This is one reason why.
I make the jokes I can, because if I don't then I'm just going to devolve into an emotionless hulk. It gives me a reprieve, however temporary, from the reality that is life. It allows me to take a moment to remember that I do care about people after all.
And you know what? I would do the same even if I myself were to be a passenger on an ill-fated airline. Assuming I had the presence of mind to do so in such a situation, of course - because humor, unfortunately, also requires willpower, and I doubt a plummeting fuselage is a place well-known for its mind-strengthening vibe.
------------------------------
I wonder how many people get the joke in the title.
No comments:
Post a Comment