Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Emotion, in Human and Non-Human Perspective (An Insight to Jakarta Bombing Incident)

The first alarm that occurred to me was my friend status at Facebook and then I checked it at news channel on television. Yes, it happened.. again.. the bombing incident at Jakarta. So let me send my deepest condolences to every victim and their relatives, friends, and colleagues.

It is very human to feel a surge of emotions at a time like this. My family, my friends, and a lot of people I met that day (Friday, July 17th 2009) felt a strong resentment to the culprit, sadness and pity to all the victims and their families. And for me, the first thing hit my emotion was emptiness, and then I felt a pity for the culprit and victims.

Well.. maybe it didn't happen in front of the door of my house, so I can say that I didn't feel any strong emotion that day. Yes.. I resent this kind of action, because I detest the idea to use destructive approach in solving problems rather than peaceful approach. But I just didn't feel any strong emotion. And maybe that it didn't happen in front of the door of my house, that I can think this incident thoroughly and logically. Well.. to be human maybe everyone is supposed to feel some kind of emotion at this incident. At first, I guess it would be appropriate, but not to dwell in it for all time. Given a bit more time, we should assess the thing that happened more logically, more coldly, not emotionally.

Well, I guess almost everyone detest the culprit.. and naturally we direct our anger and resentment towards them. Is it really good when we do this?? I believe that the culprit have a strong reason behind the action. And because of that, I think it would be unfair if we direct our anger and resentment towards the culprit; to be fair maybe we should direct our emotions to the cause of their action. When everyone get a long and lot of pressure, he/she could be exploded. And at this time, the explosion came true at the incident 5 days ago.

What the cause of their action then?? Given the culprit haven't been identified yet and very little information that I have, it will be safe for me to say that I don't know the cause, though I can conjure 1 or 2 theories about the causes. But I have a good quotation about this, from Watchmen (a really good superhero film), spoken by a favourite character of mine, Rorschach:

God doesn't make the world this way.
We do.

So should we put our anger and resentment to ourselves??

From the news, the victims of this incident are 62 people (including 9 died). Bombing incidents are only occurred once a while (about once a year maybe), but poverty and famine still spread widely around the world.. everyday. And everyday almost 16000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds (see this), but strangely we mourn more deeply at the bombing incident rather that the famine problem. Are we, human, a strange and illogical creature?? Or, maybe we just love the drama and want to shut off everything that happened and beyond our comprehension..

So what should we do now?? Remember what Rorschach say:

God doesn't make the world this way.
We do.

Maybe we should do everything we can to make this world a better place. But we also should aware that we treat everyone fairly and equally. But even always put this two things always on our mind, maybe sometime, somehow, we treat someone unfairly and unequally. Maybe we should pray that God will help us with our action.

And last, but not least is a question: "Is logic better then emotion??" In my opinion, no it isn't. Because I believe we always should search for a balance point, a harmony in almost every aspect of our live. So think with our mind, and feel with our heart. And hope that our quest for harmony will bring peace on earth.



May the best thing happen to every victim of the Jakarta bombing and every single person that is suffering in the world.
May every single person that alive works together, for a better place, for a peace on earth.


Side Note:
Image courtesy:

2 comments:

Devi Girsang, MD said...

Pardon me for the lack of updates and zero visit. :)

It's been awhile but I still have a clear memory about the incidents.

I woke up early on that day and yes, thanks to those abundant status on Facebook, I turned on the TV. Shocked, upset, angry, numb, you name it. I was wondering if those retarded perpetrators easily fall asleep at night.

It was very unfortunate for the innocent victims, my heart went to the family.

Apart from the incidents, I also despised people nearby who specially came to watch AS IF there were some action scenes being produced. They were too busy taking pics of poor bleeding victims without helping at all!! Screw them. I got few pics of the Holcim GM from many different angles throughout mailing list and bbm, can you believe that? Sighs. Humanity is overrated these days. Sad.

Unknown said...

Let's skip the pardon thing, for I have lack updates and zero visit too. I guess Facebook has became a bad sickness :P

Just forgive them (whom taking pics of the victims) Dev, they just love the drama associated with the incident, though it is very sad that they reacted that way.

I assume it that you agree with me :D hehe.. Yes, sometime humanity is overrated these days, or we, human, just a strange and contradictory creature. You know, a news about a kid that died because of any cause is a tragedy. But when that happen on hundreds of kids, that is a statistics.