Elections to the legislative assembly of our state were held on the 12th of this month. For quite some time we have been hearing rival party leaders abusing each other and also making false promises to the people of our state. Politicians are a necessary evil. Maybe evil is too strong a word but most of them are disgusting people. They are only interested in the personal benefits of power and accumulating enough wealth to last many generations. It is as if there are no honest politicians. Reading the posts of many of my blogger friends I find that people have the same feeling towards politicians all over the world. It is an interesting phenomenon. But I believe there must be good politicians otherwise there would have been chaos across the length and breadth of our country. Next year we are going to have general elections to choose our representatives for Parliament and there will be a lot of drama taking place. When I reflect on this, disturbing thoughts come to mind. Why do we elect such people? According to some the individual candidate is not important, the party is. So we must vote for that party. What if the individual is unworthy of our vote? Are we at fault or is the system at fault?
Disturbing thoughts have the habit of unsettling our peace of mind. One Sunday, on our way back home we were crossing a bridge over a wide river. We had to stop as all other vehicles had come to a halt. Many people were looking over the parapet of the bridge. A young man had just committed suicide. His backpack was lying by the side of the road, a mute testimony to the tragedy. What desperate thoughts had driven him to take his own life? We generally believe that people who commit suicide are cowards, but they must be having a lot of courage to take this final step.
Disturbing thoughts have the habit of coming to mind at the most unexpected moments. Years ago I used to love reading tragedies and watching movies with tragic ends. But now I do not like them. As it is there are so many terrible things happening in real life. They leave their impact on us. But we get over them. Is it because they are not happening to us or near home? Such thoughts disturb us all the more. It is a moral dilemma; life is indeed very complicated.
“The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” -John Milton
True Lakshmi. When we have to vote between the bad and worse, what do we do? We are left with no choice.
Loved the John Milton quote at the end of your post.
An excellent piece with good analysis. SAN
How sad for that young man, that he could not find anybody to talk to him and to comfort him and he felt he had to take that last tragic step.
Yes Sir. And I felt terrible when I saw some people taking photos from their mobiles.
Life is not easy – I feel sorry for the young man losing his.
Yes Leya.
I once stood waiting for a train feeling rather glum when the young woman next to me jumped in front of the train! We certainly never know what pain those around us carry. Too bad that politicians aren’t more open to the realities of the people they represent and instead spread venomous words into the public arena.
I wonder about her state of mind. It is so sad and a terrible experience for you.
It has always increased my compassion as I stopped assuming that everyone except me was happy.
We only can watch happy endings in movies and witness tragedy in real life these days 🙂 the system has got corrupt beyond repair so the wise people just decide to stay away and all the stupid politicians play the dirty game..
And yes these days we are physically very much connected to each other through digital medium but mentally very much disconnected.. people are scared to talk to even close relatives.. most of the times we prefer talking over SMS than calling or meeting because we can talk less like that ..
And this leads to depression and suicidal thoughts ..
Yes, people seem to have no time to interact at the personal level. It is ok for those who do not feel that they have to confide in others. But many want someone with whom they can tell their troubles. For them the present life will be difficult.
Yes.. people are more self centered these days..
There’s always a parallel event between my country and yours. We just had our barangay (smallest political unit) last May 13. Sometimes one can’t tell who the good politicians are as they are always so nice and helpful during the campaign period.