"Was"

2023-10-27 · essays

"Was" must be the most lovely word in the English language.
It tells you everything you need to know about our ingenuity as a species.

If you look up smallpox today, often the first two words of the definition will read "smallpox was."
"Was".

Nonetheless, this word also lays bare the unsettling truths about our capacity for self-deception and falsehood. You encounter declarations like:

"Racism was"
"Slavery was"
"The Cold War was"
"The Law of The Jungle was"

Our past tense is unyielding, implying that we overcame these afflictions. Yet the world remains a vastly indifferent place pretending in the present tense.

"The UN is"
"The United States is"
"A Government is"
"A Parliament is"
"A Human Right is"

Yet it isn't, and it looks like it will never be. We are living in a lie. The world isn't in peace, and nothing makes sense. There isn't either a grand purpose of human existence or even an individual. We are still barbaric groups who each think their tribe is better just because.

Chaos perpetuates, the wheel of injustice spins faster, and we comprehend our insignificance more acutely. Those in power appear as mere illusions we've crafted. There is no genuine nationality, no genuine distinction in education. What significance does it hold if people still suffer on such an incomprehensible, almost comical scale?

Everything rests upon a false premise: the creation of self-absorbed manipulators.

I see what happens in Gaza today, and I look around and say.

It is just a very lame, feeble joke.