Daily Times

“Now that we have learned to fly in the air like birds, swim under water like fish, we lack one thing — to learn to live on earth as human beings”

Literature is beautiful. It not only attracts the readers with its meaningful prose but also, at times, lays bare the evil inside us. It plunges deep into the human psyche, dissecting the dark and sinister pathologies hidden beneath. Recently I came across such a script. Russian master piece, Brothers Karamazov. The writer majestically captures so many dimensions of man and mind that it leaves one in a state of reverie. Unfortunately, there were few lines evocative of a horrifying memory, not that old. “People often describe [such] human cruelty as ‘bestial’, but that’s, of course, unfair to animals, for no beast could be ever cruel as man. The tiger simply gnaws and tears his victim to pieces because that’s all he knows. It would never occur to a tiger to nail people to fences by their ears, even if he were able to do it.”

Even in 1880’s Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky with striking precision successfully paints the picture of man as such, of humanity when it is left unfettered, at the mercy of the darkest and violent of whims, with no scruples no boundaries and no regrets. The recent lynching of Mashal Khan is an example of the above letters captured in spirit. By the writings in his room one can suggest that he was insightful. The fact that he stood against the corruption of the university officials made him a man of principle and courageous too. But the university, “the institute of higher learning”, was ironically turned into debased place when a crowd of students filled with “religious fervor” stormed the campus. What followed was the typical lynching act: merciless beating, the victim pleading his innocence, was shot down (twice), dragged and stripped naked. He was also to be set alight but the police came to the rescue and saved the carcass from further disgrace. Why was that even after inflicting much pain (to the extent of death) the perpetrators still had an appetite for further violence? Re-read the first paragraph and you’ll see that the beast of sensuous intoxication, certainly, cherishes with the cries of the tortured victim!

This is not only about this young boy but hundreds of other cases as well. They all have the same heinousness, the same hostility, the same wildness. A mob lynching, for me, is a manifestation of the lowest level to which we, humans, could fall.

In other lamentable developments a police security guard, strangulated a young boy who has refused to give him Rs 200,000. Here’s another, relatively pleasant one where an FIA official can be seen beating a woman and her daughter at airport. These are the only ones that had caught the attention of the media but there are so many cases, so many incidences that we do not even come across. Few years back the merciless killing of two brothers in Sialkot still makes my soul cringe. The Kasur Scandal still has the same grim air, the array of honor killings emaciates the same parochialism. Neither the grief for the Christian couple who was burnt alive in a brick kiln has abated.

This is the fall of humans and humanity that we are witnessing. Common sense tells us that the greater the height the more the damage when anything falls from it. Humans, it is said is the highest creation and so when they fall; they plunge to a nadir not easily envisaged.

Here the relevance of Gorky’s saying is extraordinary: “Now that we have learned to fly the air like birds, swim under water like fish, we lack one thing — to learn to live on earth as human beings.”We have to tame that beast that lurks in each one of us, to appease that fury, to christen the debauched mind. We have to chain the beast again. We have to learn to live like humans.

To all this moral nemesis the only panacea is education, hackneyed but a truth. Education is not something that can be mixed in water and imbibed. Education is to be acquired and willingness is a pre-requisite for acquiring it. We have to educate people about education. Educate them about the carcinogenic effects that hate and violence creates, corrupting our whole society. Educate them to replace it with the mellifluous and fecund vibes that peace and tolerance emits. And then as time passes by we may hope to see humanity as a whole.

The writer is a student of International Relations with interest in International Political Economy. He can be reached at osamarizvi10@hotmail.com