Will Mankind ever learn?

          

            Look at this child. Has some snack and looks around trying to find out if someone would help him. Now what happened moments later? He was shot at gun point. Not once, but 5 times. Why? Just because he was Velupillai Prabhakaran’s son. The kid, sent with some bodyguards to surrender, as per international media, was shot dead after his bodyguards were executed right in front of his eyes.

          I wonder if this is the lowest Man can steep down to. The worst I can think of doing to this kid is to cut him off from his current world, raise him under supervision and make sure his father’s streaks never raise in him. Killing him? Impossible. Then I think of the Delhi gang-rape victim. Is this what has come to Mankind? How could he be so savage?

          Next I wonder, if Man was always so. Has he done this before? Does he repent it? Does he get punished for it? Does he ever learn from his mistakes?

          The earliest I can think of, when children and babies were killed for power, is from our own puranas, where Kamsa killed 6 babies of his sister, though no proof exists to attest this claim. From then on, there are so many examples of Man doing anything for power – son killing father, father killing son, brothers killing each other – anyone who comes in their way for power. Most importantly, the heirs to the throne were never left off. They were always killed, be it 16 year olds or 6 month olds. 

                Every time a powerful army conquers a neighbouring state, rapes have been known to happen. Right from Troy till the Sri Lankan War, rapes have been the most common factor among all wars. Though women were not expected to fight, though men were not expected to capture and rape women, they did. They always did.

                In the last 300 years, in one of the most shameful episodes of modern human history, blacks from Africa have been held as slaves and have also been raped. Jews were raped and jewish children killed by Nazis. Serbian War involved mass rape and killings. Pol Pot of Cambodia, the man who destroyed the dreams of an entire generation of Cambodians, raped women and killed children.

                Now, was India any better? India has had more than its own share of patricides, fratricides and the likes, and rapes by conquering armies in its history. In more recent times, partition was one of the worst times for women and children. All sides to the party, Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, raped and killed, even children. Indian army has been accused of rape in Kashmir, North east and in Sri Lanka. Some even go on to say that, if not for our Army’s off-field crimes, Rajiv Gandhi would still be alive. Add Gujarat 2002, Mumbai 1993 and the various other events to this. Rape existed forever. Children have been killed always.

          So have any of the above men ever been punished. Very very rarely. Kamsa was, armies were never, unless they lost, when their women would anyways be raped. The winning, more powerful armies were never punished. Pol Pot died 20 years after he ran away, peacefully. Partition crimes were never punished, though all sides were horribly affected. Army refuses to allow normal courts to try even sexual crimes. They want that covered under AFSPA as well. Will someone in Sri Lanka pay for it? I am not hopeful.

          But then, there is this new alarming trend that shows that Man can indeed plunge lower and lower than we can imagine him to. Rape of children. I am not sure if Man has always been like this. It cant get any worse than this. But I wont be surprised if Man indeed gets worse than this.

Man is, has always been and will always be a cruel, brutal animal. One without remorse, one which doesn’t learn from its mistakes. One which plunges lower and lower.