As the waves wash up each and every one of his footprints on the shore, he still manages to be the most self-absorbed being that walked on the planet Earth. He sits down, and with every sigh that leaves his frowning pale lips, once again, he swears he won’t ever try to become a better version of himself, no, never. With every step he takes, an opaque cloud surrounds him. Now he can’t see anything that’s happening one feet away from him. Not that he cares, really, what happens around him is none of his concern after all. 

…

 

When I look around me, I see a world stained by the darkness of selfishness and ignorance. It is heartbreaking to witness the depths of selfishness that permeates human relationships and the disregard that blinds us to the bigger picture. 

Selfishness, a quality we are born with, has become a caricature of our desires, obscuring our sense of empathy, and corroding the fabric of our social bonds. It is as if we have mastered the art of self preservation at the expense of true human connection. I see it in the small details of our lives, in the ways we prioritize our personal gain over our collective well-being, from petty arguments to grandiose plans of wealth accumulation. Our actions are often motivated by an unquenchable thirst for more – more possessions, more status, more power – without ever thinking about how it will affect others. 

Then comes ignorance- a mist which blindfolds our eyes not to see the world we live in, but what exists outside our boundary of friends circle. Turning a blind eye to the miseries going on all around us is always an option. Our echo chambers are of our own making, living within cozy walls, but oblivious to the difficulties outside our filtered existence.

The environmental miscreants, we pillage earth’s natural resources while disregarding the permanent scar caused on planet earth. It is a culture of convenience driven by our consumption-based societies, which do not care about its ecological effects in tomorrow’s generation.

Everywhere you go, whether in the corridors of power or on the street, selfishness holds sway over others which gives birth to inequality, injustice, and systemic indiscrimination. We construct barriers, physical and metaphorical, placing people together who look alike based upon meaningless parameters like class or religion while acting as if there is no alternative available.

This is a vicious cycle which repeats and renews itself: the ball-room of self-interest and dark enlightenment that obscures our view of a better world. In order to gratify ourselves we ignore their pain and anesthetize our consciousness.