Which, I suppose, is not really a new thing. Bad things are always happening somewhere, but whether a spotlight is used to bring attention to it or not depends.
As always, when tidings of war and disease spread through media outlets, people come from the woodwork to discuss and commentate, like busy little termites finding new trees to feast upon and grow.
So, I feel fortunate that for the most part, these terrible happenings, these pitiable phenomena, are things that at this point do not appear to impact my life significantly.
Yet, there are comments that have been made recently by the same people who always have to turn the bad into worse, in the name of defending something they feel good.
Yes, indeed, the people who claim that hurricanes wiping out the residences of thousands of people, or diseases killing hundreds upon hundreds, are good things. Recently, one of those comments hit close to home. Of course, it is only natural that it would, because it was a comment that intersects part of my personal background.
Although I do not care to draw attention to the individual, there was someone who had been claiming that the outbreak of Ebola was a good thing, that it was a 'divine retribution' that would be used as a plague to wipe out all those not chosen by god. (No capitalization because the God I believe in does not share the same dark sentiments about specific classes of people.)
The irony, that in a time of some of the most enlightened people, where technological and scientific understanding is booming, people would still believe that praying alone would cause a disease to target only a specific portion of the population, and furthermore, to protect others from the disease.
Listen, guys, we are all adults here. We all have the capacity to look up how Ebola spreads. Surprise, surprise, it is just like any other virus or disease: opportunistic. It doesn't care who it infects. Its sole goal is to survive, populate, grow, spread, and adapt. Basic survival operations, inherent to life as we know it regardless of organism.
So, then, why are there still those who would choose to ignore the facts in favor of hoping to damn a portion of the population with personality characteristics or physical appearances that are 'undesirable' with something that is deadly, difficult to control, and indiscriminate?
The answer is clear, because in times of darkness, there are always going to be those who fall into several distinct (and also occasionally overlapping categories):
- The candle-bearers- these are the people who hope for the light, and try to bring it to their own situation and those around them, but have little reach beyond themselves
- The floodlights- these are the people who shine brightly, reaching great distances, but ultimately still can't reach everyone
- The shadow hoarders- these are the people who covet the shade, they call darkness light, and shy away from the true light when others bring it around.
- The glow worms- these are the people who are unaffected by the darkness regardless of how deep it is, because it never touches them, but they seek nothing to keep it from others
Sure, and I will admit, I am no floodlight. I am quite the glow worm, or perhaps somewhere between that and a candle-bearer. I have a limit to what I can do to help others, but I am disappointed that there are people who would wish disease, death, and all manner of terrible things on people who they do not understand.
It is, in my opinion, admonishable, as having those values can only lead to disaster. No person should have the right to ordain that another group should be wrought destruction in ways that cause unbelievable pain and suffering, just because of differences that are (in truth) only surface-level. Though I will say that the fact remains that choosing to have beliefs that others' lives are worthless because of a few fundamental differences that have no impact, is one difference that is not only on the surface. That is a difference that goes to the very core of who a person is.
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