YOUNG VOICE
We are not Vampires
He’s incredibly strong and he’s impossibly fast. He glitters like diamond when exposed to the sun. He’s insipid and pale and his hands are ice cold. He’s been seventeen for a considerably long time. He’s
Edward Cullen and he’s a vampire.
The world never tires on making stories about Count Dracula’s relatives. The world continues to patronize the idea of vampires. I wondered on what makes them so irresistible. Is it their bat-morphing ability? Their curious addiction to blood? Or in Twilight’s case, their oh-so-cool special skills of speed, forecasting or pain not to mention their impeccable sex appeal? Then, it clicked me. These vampires, they live forever. Their immortality makes them so intriguing and under normal circumstances, they thrive for eternity unless burned or in some cases, exposed to garlic.
We humans must indirectly love the idea of living forever that we continue to preserve not just vampire stories but numerous tales about fantastical beasts, magic potions, fountains of youth and philosopher’s stones. Every day we continually face an omen that is death. Every day we carry an ounce of fear, a trickle of anxiety; for we do not know what worse fate is yet to come. We couldn’t deny, but we have become obsessed on preserving and prolonging our earthly lives. Proofs are millions of merchandise dedicated to this obsession: anti-aging creams, life-support supplements and even seatbelts. We have established that life is important and so we fight for this existence to the fullest and longest. I guess even a little child will
agree that the very basic right of man is to live, regardless of color, denomination or gender. We all deserve the most important experience earth has to offer.
But, it is both depressing and disturbing how others continue to violate this basic right. It cuts deep into man’s morality; it burns the core of human ethics. Suicide, murder, mutilation, mass-killing, massacre, these flood news reports on our televisions, seemingly racing with our silent desire for immortality. Respecting life, I guess is the very basic lesson we all learn as we grow up. Christians,
Muslims, Jews and seemingly all faiths proclaim its truth. When we were in kindergarten, our teacher would give us the chance to take care of goldfishes, chicken eggs or hamsters, feeding them every day,
keeping them alive until their life sans have reached maximum. In our young age we were already set to value the very sanctity of life.
This may be the reason why I couldn’t seem to finish my supper after seeing on television the lifeless and tortured bodies in the now media-hyped Maguindanao Massacre. Whatever politics is behind this
barbaric act, whatever reason or rationalization the master mind has, they can never suffice the break of the code, the disobedience to the law, the disrespect to what is considered the most important. In my
opinion, these killers haven’t exactly erased the importance of life from their systems; they actually became more obsessed than anyone.
They wanted a life that is better, longer and fuller and for them to have such, they need to cut down their rivals, they need to eliminate the competition. This is far worse than immaturity. This is downright
more disgusting than animal dung.
We have wasted histories of man versus man. We have to learn that nothing good came from the Dark Ages, the two world wars and even terrorism. There are no excuses for killing, for taking away another’s life or even one’s own. Mental illness and self-defense might be court-considered alibis, but the spilt of blood and the theft of breathe has been done and the one who did it is called a killer. For the people responsible for the Maguindanao Massacre–from the masterminds to the gun men, dig deep into your cold and dark hearts and kindly search of the little drop of sanity and what has been
popularized as man’s innate goodness, I’m sure you have one. Find this and find the strength to face the world and admit your heinous plot. Give justice to the lives you have taken. Think about the families who’ll spend their Christmases and New Years with one or more member less. How can you savor and salivate from the tasty lechon or feast your eyes on the sparkling fireworks display? Oh, for the last time, if ever you haven’t been one in your entire life, be human.
Unlike Count Dracula or the Cullens, we do not live forever. This all the more makes our human lives an eternity more important than theirs. This all the more gives us the reason to protect, preserve and await
its normal course of disintegrating. We all wanted a beautiful exit in this world. We all wanted a life that’s full and long. But this desire doesn’t give us the right to take away another’s life for it to be done.
May those conscience-less few realize that we are not vampires.
Let us pray for the victims and their families of the Maguindanao Massacre. Let us pray for the people who plotted and executed this disturbing act.
May justice reign.
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