The sunlight scattered through the trees as he sped into the morning light to be joined by his friends. It was the day before of their graduation and they were excited except him. He was terrified [Precision of language] - anxious as everyone born there knew what they wanted to and what kind of job they might be given, except for him. He lived in a community surrounded by a boundary where all their previous memories were erased. They started over after the ruin. They knew what people had become and that cost them a lot. There were rules, the rules of equality, the kind of language to be used, to follow curfew, the kind of dress and the medication to be used. They lived in a world where differences weren't allowed. They were devoid of all color to avoid any differences that might rise in the minds of the people. There was no popularity, no fame, no losers and no winners. Their "elders" have eliminated all of these and created communities where there is no conflict, no fear, no pain, no envy, no hate and no love. They weren't words so much as sounds. They were echoes forgone on the other side of history. But he was different, he saw things differently but never told anyone about it. It was against the rules.
What would it be like to not feel anything? Since we have been habituated to this phenomenon to feel, we would be devastated if one day we find ourselves unable to experience. And if it were the case that everything, such as feelings and other essentials are completely curbed from us, how would we be? How would be cope up and how would be lading our lives, without differences of people, of color, of religion, of caste. Wouldn't we be one of those robots or simply put puppets being told what to do and what not to do by someone who "claims" to know everything.
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| Photo Courtesy : Google Images |
I just came across this movie : The Giver! I guess there is a book as well about which I know nothing about if there is one. But it is a beautiful movie. Because Jonas who is different among all the others has a perceptive mind and used to see things that were totally alien to him. And one day he is chosen as the receiver of memory, the memory of the past. The journey of his realization of what it means to feel pain, love, hate, anger, whatnot and how and what made people adopt to the confinement of the communities and not to mention the apprehension of beautiful colors, the melody of the music, the art of expressing, sharing and dancing, the falling in love, the kiss, all of which were just exquisite. As I was watching, though I may not be able to experience first hand but if I were to put myself in Jonas's shoes, I would be thrilled, excited, scared and whatnot in a whole different level. What we don't realize is the essence of these feelings which we take for granted and we introduce a new feeling called ego causing more damage to ourselves than we could even imagine. And the other thing that I love in this movie is people living in harmony without any knowledge of any sort of differences, color, religion, caste or anything that sets people different from others. They were unified in a way. How I wish to see that in our world! Yeah, I know I need to limit my hope but why can't we? Do we really have to erase all the memories, the feelings and not question what and why we are doing! Is it the only way?
