Blog #38

Losing the Feeling of Loss

The death of Osama Bid Laden: a reason for jubilation throughout America, but how desensitized does it show we are that we are celebrating the death of a human? Indeed, Bin Laden was the reported mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and most will agree that he deserved nothing short of a swift death. Despite all this, is it ever right to rejoice in the death of a fellow man? It all goes to show exactly how little we care about death anymore.

Although it's not the joyous partying that occurred in the case of Bin Laden, other examples are still incredibly prevalent in modern news. The thousands of deaths in Libya hardly register to most of us. I've even heard quotes along the lines of “Blasted Libyans, now 'cause of them, gas prices are through the roof!” This rather callous state expresses a sentiment felt by many people. The individuals without faces mean nothing to us, and even the cause and death of however many hundreds doesn't compare to the loss inside our wallets. We are truly becoming a cold world.

Second opening:

In a postmodern world where apathy is the hip way to go, is it getting to the point that we no longer care about death? We are able to watch the news about a fatal car crash and think to ourselves, “Hmm, I wonder if traffic will be able on my way to work this morning?” The lack of emotion is a rising trend that started to develop with more news coverage, and communities not being as closely-knit as before. Whereas before, when most deaths were of someone that a person knew, now we witness the deaths of thousands of faceless nobodies.

But alas, the aren't faceless nobodies, they are the same as us. When someone dies, they (generally) leave behind family or friends to mourn for them, to feel the impact of their loss. Should we feel grief as well, that our race has lost another member to the ever-victorious reaper? Asking people to care about it all would be asking the impossible. It would be illogical to ask people to express so much overwhelming grief. Yet, we can try to not look at deaths with such cold eyes. For the sake of its humanity, mankind needs to feel for itself a little bit more.

Aye, the endings of the opening are rather corny, but they'll be more of a lead-in in the actual paper. Also, the comments on my title amused me quite a bit, as it seemed like it just alternated between “Grabbed my attention!” and “not very attention-grabbing...”