We didn't start the fire

We are a country steeped in customs and traditions and we pride in keeping every age old practice alive. How else do we explain the annual violence in the name of Cauvery water dispute that has almost become a part of the culture between two states? Everyone knows that this dispute is kept alive for political reasons and leveraged well by crooks to settle personal scores. The burning buses not just provide the much needed fireworks but make for sensational viewing on tele as well. News anchors like Arnab Goswami  and his wannabes with their histrionics provide the sound effect needed to stoke the fire. After all what is celebration of a tradition without fire and noise.

The high decibel news channels were busy sensationalizing the violence that was happening in some isolated corners and make the chaos look worse than it actually is. While this was happening the social media was abuzz with self-appointed critics and peace makers. Amidst this entire circus, in the relative calm of my apartment complex I heard 2 elderly gentlemen lament about violent path that our world is heading towards. They were also nostalgic about how wonderful people were during their times and romanticizing the past with a popular notion that 'the golden age of anything is when I was there’. 

Was the world less violent in the days gone by? I was somehow not willing to accept this notion. Were our ancestors more tolerant towards their fellow humans?  I don’t think so and here is why.

"Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out in the field.” When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."   Genesis 4:8.

With Adam, Eve, Abel and himself being the only humans on earth at that point in time, statistically, Cain wiped out 25% of the world’s population by killing his younger brother. The world has never seen such a wipe out since. The World War 2 wiped out 3% of the world’s population. Yes, humans killed 60 million of their brothers. If this is not violent then what is? The Nazi holocaust wiped out 10 million humans in the name of ethnic cleansing. This probably is the lowest humans could demean themselves to.  The war between Iran and Iraq took away over 2 million human lives and the more recent Afghan war took more than a million lives. We have read about the Spanish Conquistadors responsible for wiping away the highly advanced Mayan civilization and several other cases of mass violence by fellow humans wiping out civilizations from the face of earth. All in the past

If you look at the chronology of these events, we were more violent and deadlier as a species than we are today. The two old men would have certainly heard Billy Joel sing

We didn't start the fire

It was always burning

Since the world's been turning

We didn't start the fire

Humans have always overcome their inherent fears by creating chaos all around them. In fact,We have thrived on this weakness. I was so tempted to tell the 2 old men that the golden age of anything was never as golden as it seem today. If anything, we were more violent and cruel in the past.  

So all you degenerate morons who burn buses and ransack shops, don’t feel too proud about your violent shameful acts. Please remember that you didn’t start the fire. Your ancestors were more violent than you can ever be. They caused more damage to this world than what you aspire to do. So stop what you do as you can never match up to your grandfathers. Instead, Let us try being humans for a change. Who knows it could be good too.