Immorality: Which One Really Is Immoral?

~via wholelifemagazine.com~

Once upon a time, there was a situation when I have to question what immorality truly means. 

For most people, especially those who follow Christianity (being a Christian doesn't mean one has the characteristics of Christ for I see the big difference between the two), they concentrate its meaning base on sex (intercourse, pre-marital sex in particular) and they couldn't see anything else. I am not that sure about the views on this from other religious sects but I believe they share the same. 

Anyway, I see immorality differently.

This once upon a time happened when a woman employee was kicked out of her job because she got pregnant out of wedlock. What? Yes! The management specified the following: get married and you get to keep your job otherwise, you have to resign! Why, if you ask? Because according to some company policy (this company particularly), pregnancy out of wedlock will ruin its image, its reputation! 

As simple as that! 

You might agree with what the policy entails but it is wrong and heartless!

Sex out of marriage is not an act of immorality, and definitely, a woman is not immoral if she gets pregnant with a runaway father!

When a single woman employee gets pregnant and the boyfriend refuses to marry her, does she need to lose her job? Kindly also tell me whether the company is "not" immoral when it denied its employee the job she needed the most, denying her child the comfort her salary can give?

Sex is private - between two people - and as long as the employee is doing her job properly and efficiently, the company has no right to interfere with her personal life. It's a personal choice. 

Sex becomes immoral only if one is against in doing it or if one is forced to do it.

Do you know what's more immoral than having sex out of marriage?

• Throwing garbage anywhere is immoral. It simply puts yourselves at the center of the world because for you, getting rid of your waste is more important than anything/anyone else thereby forgetting your waste could bring harm to others!

• Killing animals for food or simply being the reason for these animals to be butchered so you'll eat is immoral and inhumane. It, again, puts yourselves in the center, for you don't value any other live beings apart from yourselves forgetting that they, too, are creations of god (if you believe so) that have rights to share the earth as much as you do.

• Cutting trees, bulldozing the earth for the so-called development is immoral. This, again, makes you forget that by doing so you make all the birds and other animals that depend on them homeless.

Is it moral to dip innocent beings in boiled water?
He or She didn't harm you in any way!

Examples could go on and on but one thing is clear, immorality does happen most of the times and that we should be ready to discuss many things about it other than claiming that sex is immoral. And that we should never agree to one thing and condemn another thing just because it doesn't apply to our liking.

But if having pre-marital sex is immoral, is getting married after doing it makes you moral? How about the man who got his girlfriend pregnant but refused to marry her, is he immoral? What if it's the mane employee got his girlfriend pregnant and refused to marry her? Will he lose his job, too?

I don't think there is a valid justification for firing an employee because the company believes that pregnancy out of wedlock is immoral.

The irony of this situation is that the company is into providing livelihood projects to communities, helping men or women, married or single become self-sufficient. How hypocrites and blind can the people in this company be when they could not even provide a decent livelihood to their own employees, and yet they talk about immorality? They better take care of their own first rather than showing some things to others and do different things on the other side.

~chopped trees as if no one lives on them;
as if it's so easy to grow one single tree;
as if felling has no consequences~

I saw how merciless the said policy is so I questioned it, not because the person concerned is a neighbor or a friend or a family member. I just refused to stay silent. That part of me just couldn't tolerate it anymore. I don't expect that after I brought their attention to this I could change them. No! Far from that. Because for change to happen it has to start from understanding what is right and what is wrong.

This case is just one of the many injustices, inequalities on earth that need change and change is difficult, even harder having people with such kind of mentality!

Empathy: The Capability To Share Another Being's Emotions And Feelings

The word empathy is one of the most common words in man's vocabulary. Though the above definition says another being, most people apply this word to HUMAN beings only and not to NON-HUMAN animals. Many fail to imagine themselves to be them, non-human animals, which somehow made me question, "is empathy exclusive to mankind only?"

Well, many people are generally kind and caring who may love their dogs or cats - their pets, in other words, but they seem to have forgotten their concern towards other animals like the plight of pigs, chickens, turkeys, sheep, cows, etc. in slaughterhouses getting ready to be sold and eventually be served on their dinner table. Can a man be this hostile?

Now let me ask you! Are you one of these people who empathize with human pains and sufferings only? Or are you different?

Will there be a chance for you to be different from now on?

In Earthlings, a documentary film about the society's treatment of animals as food, clothing, entertainment and scientific research, I couldn't help myself but say "Good!" when the elephant ran amok and injured and killed people who treated him mercilessly just for the sake of entertainment.

In the movie, The Planet of the Apes, humans are dumb just like how humans think of animals today. They are in the situation where they are hunted for sport and dissected or sliced for scientific study. Good thing apes were vegetarian, otherwise human meat would have been their favorite. 

Could this be a consolation for humans?

Just a few weeks ago, a neighbor killed a cobra because he, his family, and his other neighbors are afraid of it. They are scared that the would enter into their houses and bite them. That's all they can think of -bite them, and so he/she has to die through their hands. My husband and I tried to persuade them not to kill him/her, to just let him/her go on its way for he/she's just passing by. But no! The man still brought a big round stick and smashed him/her to death. I literally burst out into tears and walked away. I couldn't bear the hostility of man, who is supposed to be far more intelligent than any other being yet he couldn't hide the beast in him.

In another incident around here, a big cat was hunted and killed (I am referring to a different leopard, not the pictured one below) because he killed a 5-year-old kid. Many commented and said it should have not killed the kid, it should not hunt humans. It can kill dogs, sheep, goats and other animals but not humans! And so he was killed. But who would you blame? The big cat that has gone hungry for many days because his habitat has been destroyed by endless human population growth or the humans themselves who think that they can empty the forest, that these animals don't have the right to inhabit the earth like they do? 

~one innocent earthling against hundreds of men~
(visit indianexpress for the story)

Here, I confirmed how idiots humans can be because of selfishness and apathy. How can they even think that there is only but one man-eating leopard roaming around in this area? What if the one got killed was not the one they were looking for? But, oh well, they are not capable of thinking this way, aren't they?

Then, why kill the animal? There is forest department that is supposed to handle this situation the right way - tranquilize the cat and transport him to a jungle where he can thrive.

But they resorted to killing him.

~dogs for dog meat trade, via www.ed.ac.uk~

The above scenarios are just a few instances where humans have shown their hostility, selfishness, idiocy for the sake of their own benefit. No wonder man survive this long wiping out the weak along the way for them to thrive in great numbers.

I know that many cannot understand and connect these issues what I am mumbling about. I don't have control over that. But for those who are capable of putting themselves in the paws and hooves of these animals, they already know what to do, if they haven't done anything yet.

Yet again, compassion or kindness is innate in every person. But somehow, along the way it got lost, but it is something that could be lost but also can be found again.

Don't fail to put yourselves in the lives of these animals, which you considered scrumptious! It's time to evolve and become that man who is part of nature but on a different level altogether.
You can be a part of nature and choose to kill and eat your fellow earthlings. 
Not that!
Instead, be a part of nature, and at the same time, choose not to exploit animals in every possible way. Be that man! Be that man who says, empathy is for all creatures who live on this planet.
Empathy is something that is extended towards non-human animals.

I failed for 27 years but I changed my ways. I passed and still doing my best part to protect and respect them. I just don't have sympathy for them, I deeply empathize with them. I clearly see their value, not as food that fills my belly, but as beings that exist because they have every rights to share this beautiful planet with me.

I want to live my life and I know, every single animal out there wants to live his or her life, too, free from any threats from mankind.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid Human Beings

This picture was taken on 14th March 2015 on our way towards Gauchar market.  I was already documenting the horror of the area while passing this bridge. Then this woman, coming from the other side of the road, carrying a plastic of mixed garbage, appeared.
I walked past ahead, stood and waited for her to cross the road because I know she will be dumping what she's carrying into the river and I wanted to photograph it. 

The result? The picture above!

The plastic bag didn't land on to the river itself. It was caught by those Lantana plants down below. 

But in no time, the image would be like this...

...and even worse!

What she did was stupid, unacceptable, and disgusting!
She, among others, is responsible for deliberately polluting this seasonal river, killing and poisoning ALL lives that depend on it.

She, based on her body size-short and stout, is obese and, therefore, sick...very sick,
 physically and mentally!

Would you sympathize with her?

Would you treat her, if you are a doctor?

Would you help her, in any way, if you happen to be her neighbor?

Would you care to educate her? 

To me, she is a walking dead and because she's dead, giving her education is like administering a dose of medicine to a zombie -no point! I don't sympathize with people like her. I am not a misanthrope, I just deplore people who have no shame left of themselves because this woman and the likes of her are not only killing themselves, they are also dragging innocents with them -the victims who are almost always not in the picture, the animals!

And that is merciless!

I would have not minded if her action only affects her. She can do whatever she wants even if it leads to her own peril or death. But that is not the case!

The animals who don't contribute to any of these suffer the most.
And who else? The few people who try to make a difference and don't participate in polluting the earth suffer, too!

Ironic huh! The criminals are not the only ones paying for their crimes. And in most cases, it's the victims who pay the most-their health and their life!

Stupid People: Killing Themselves In The Process

My husband and I just came from marketing, which we do every 3 or 4 days. As usual, we walked to and carried back 2 cloth bags each full of fruits and vegetables and some grocery items. Like any other day, nothing skipped from our observation. And this rant is not new. We've been going on and on about this issue, aside from other social issues, for a long time....anywhere, anytime between the two of us!

So passing by at the Gauchar bridge we always notice...

The seasonal river that really gets ferocious during monsoon
 and the houses that are just right at it!

~the people and their houses, which are built just right on top of the dike constructed to avoid landslide in the area...technically these people are living right on the banks of a seasonal river,

Plastics, bottles, clothing, etc
....up-close!

• their garbage, which is thrown right into this same river. Eventually, their wastes, too, for the outlets are pointing towards the river. Gross!

And when the river becomes heavy enough to wash them off, we are supposed to help them?

We are supposed to lend a hand for they are victims of calamities? And they need our sympathies?

No way!






And on the opposite side of this bridge are, again slum-like houses AND, would you believe it, just right on top of a huge rock where this same river cuts through

Forest Dep't. buildings surrounded by a few trees
and hundreds of different kinds of garbage!

• is a forest department where its staffs reside.  Instead of seeing trees and plants you can clearly witness their stupidity -garbage (plastics, clothing, etc.) thrown left and right visibly piling up on the side wall of the rock which eventually go down to the river and join with the other garbage that many other people contribute from neighboring areas. Forest people huh!

A couple of joint houses just below the FD...would you
let your surroundings look like this?

On top of that, many family members of this force walk through this river area every afternoon (as a routine, imagine that) carrying a plastic bag full of biodegradable and non-biodegradable items (mixed, of course, for obviously they don't have a concept of segregation) and do the same thing as what others do-dumping garbage right into the river!

I mean, are they humans?

It's the same face in most places, I know. I just can't stop ranting about it. I mean, gosh, these people don't deserve to roam the planet, let alone breed more of their kind! Jeez!

What irresponsible people!

The entire walk (about 1.5 km) itself is a pathway of plastics! You know what, the people of this force don't have a sense at all, it's a shame really! They keep chopping Lantanas and other bushy plants that grow along the battalion's fences and in this same stretch, there are hundreds of plastics (chips wrappers, chocolate covers, milk cartons, tin cans, bottles, and other junks). You name it it's there!
Some are even on the road itself! And they are not bothered about it. These things are not considered as something to be picked up and cleaned!

It seems like it is normal for these people to see plastics around, even right at their own door, but when it comes to trees, plants, etc. they're considered nuisance that needs to be cut off!

It would be unfair to just rant about the people of this force and their family members because there are equally idiotic civilians too. And they do the same! Pollute the planet...without a thought!

Students themselves walk these areas and yet, not one seems aware that there is something to be bothered around here. So much for education huh!

I have been in this place for 3 years and yet the boards that say "go clean and green" or "help save the planet by going green" are just plain words intend to remain in boards. Absolutely pathetic! And being a model (carrying our own cloth bags, segregation of wastes, refusing to use plastics, etc.) doesn't seem to have an effect on people. 

My husband used to say, "They themselves are not bothered about their health, what would you expect?"

Precisely!

And just right before the entrance of our campus (upper side) are houses where sewage goes down right on the pedestrian lane, where, if you aren't careful, you could get a bath of cow dung! (Poor cows though...contained in a 6 by 6-foot prison for milking purposes only so humans could have a glass of milk tea! What a shameful species-humans!

Stealing for God

I have been so furious since our Gaillardias at front garden bloomed. Between 5:30 to 7:00 when we are still in bed, a few people -women and school kids- pluck these flowers as if they have planted them themselves! Made me think, have these people not learned the sense of propriety or is it because in this campus most things are for free (weekly rations) so they think everything else, including those flowers and vegetables that are planted by a particular household, are also free and at their disposal? Possibly...or worse they have never learned it in their life!

I caught two kids stealing flowers and when asked why their teacher at school asked them to bring flowers. I mean, really? Such education is being taught to these children? Can this be so horrible? Taking something without asking! But isn't it one of the basic manners that we should learn in life? And on top of this, an adult, a grandmother was with the kids. So much for consenting adults, huh!

So what do you think of this?

On different days and different occasion, I have caught 4 women in total right while they were plucking our Gaillardias. When asked, these flowers are for god/to bring to the temple, they replied (all women). 

Horrendous!

God needs offering, huh! But I thought everything is God's so why does he need to be offered something that is already his? It's like you pay me a visit to my house and give me with something, like a bottle of groundnut oil which is right at our cupboard and hand it to me as a gift or visit offering. Isn't it just the stupidest dreadful thing you can do?

So my husband tried to educate them right then itself asking "how would God feel when you bring stolen offerings to him?" They couldn't answer! "You didn't even ask!  What if I come to your house and take something, how would you feel", he added (even if they ask we won't give flowers). He even told them that if they want flowers they can plant themselves and we will provide them with seeds. And guess what, they never came back (to this date) and asked for seeds ( I have plenty because we are moving from this place soon and I always make a garden wherever we land).

And what about the bees, butterflies, and other insects that depend on these flowers? Definitely, everyone who plucks, even if it's theirs, or accepts flowers as gift is a willing participant in this act.

We should even encourage planting lots of plants and flowers to every vacant land, no matter how small, to increase the number of insects that would pollinate our crops. Without these tiny creatures, we would have been long a history.

And come November, it's chrysanthemums time (I have pink, red, and brown) and I am certain they will be the subject of these particular people's eyes. Thinking about them plucking these eye-bewitching loveliness makes me want to cut their hands...really! That angry I am!

I have two ideas though that might make them hesitate to touch these flowers. One, install a camera so later on, I could print their faces on a street billboard (such a small community it wouldn't be hard to recognize). Two, tie a rope of bells onto one hard stem to another so when someone tries to pick one flower it makes sounds so that even if we are asleep or in the farther room we can hear it. Haven't tried this yet though.

For most people, flower picking is somewhat not a big deal but for someone who loves flowers for they are not only planted for self-purpose but also to encourage insect population, it is a serious deal!

But what else can we do other than trying to educate? What else can I do other than being observant and prevent stealing? Nothing! I can be angry as much as I can but it won't make a difference to the people who are involved in such a hideous act.

Which is why, to live in a community where people are responsible for their own action, where people have high regard on the welfare of animals and insects, to the environment as a whole, would be lovely!

Anyway, looking at the pictures here it's no wonder why they are being targeted. They are just gorgeous, and the more I do deadheading the more they flourish. And for many people around here, this flower is not that common...or maybe, our house is the only house around here where flowers are accessible.

But, really...the nerve of these people to dare steal them...and that too, for God? Nonsensical!!!

Update: Since the last "caught", our flowers (chrysanthemums are also in bloom) have been safe. I have no idea why. Could it be that those people stopped stealing after giving them some sense into their heads or they are not around the campus? But one time, I was told (by my husband) that one of those women turned up in the hospital for cough medicine for her kid. Well, they seem to refrain themselves from turning their path to ours and move straight ahead.

Motherhood: A Prison?

This was on the Facebook wall of one of my friends who just recently had a child and reading all the comments made me laugh because all the comments were positive, you know the portrayal of how difficult it is to be a mother to a newborn child, how much time they spend time in tending their child, how much they can relate to that statement, etc. Not one of them realized the negative impact of this statement. 

There are four words that are very inappropriate in this statement:
PRISONER, ESCAPING, JAIL, and FREE.

Really? Rearing a child makes a mother feel like a prisoner, like someone who tried to escape everytime, and that a life with a child is like living in jail? And that too, a little break means FREEDOM to a mother? Ha ha! Great! Tsk!

Why the hell they had a child then? Do they realize how messed up this statement is? And those who read this didn't disagree to it? Oh, the idiocy of mankind.

I am not a mother (and I don't intend to create another being) but I would never say "I am not a mother so I don't know how to raise a child (telling to a mother)". Saying so is like I need to have a car to learn driving. 

You see, readers, no child has ever asked a parent that they wanted to be born. Being born is no way a child's choice. So whose choice it is? The parents, especially the mother, and to view motherhood and describe it like the above statement is just wrong...very wrong and idiotic! Any child whose mother's views are like that one above must be ashamed of her/his mother and demand her to change her views or "de-mother" her altogether.

"There must be some pre-requisite before someone can become a parent." 

(A line from the movie, Detachment)

The Garbage In You

I titled this post "The Garbage In You" to examine the garbage that's been dominating in one's life and what does she/he do about it. This issue is not new but around here, it's different altogether. You'll find someone removing all the dead leaves in a vacant lot because they look unpleasant to the eye but the wrappers, bottles, plastics, etc. just right at their noses are "natural" sites to them. Instead of planting vegetables and plants, they are scraping the ground. Instead of planting more trees they cut what's already there.

See the picture above? I couldn't help myself but label it because I couldn't comprehend the thinking behind this act. One side, people worship god and on the other side they don't bother to protect and preserve what's god's? A thinking that is beyond any sane mind could fathom.

In this picture is another dumping ground! It's right outside the fence of a campus where so called "protectors" of the Himalayas live but witness how stupid and apathetic they turn out to be. Just because it's not "in" and "within" the campus, it's okay to dump their waste there? As long as they can't see it, their premises are clean? Just because it's thrown outside their fence, the garbage is no longer theirs? Is that the mentality here? Well, I believe so!

See this picture on the right? That's exactly what I am saying.

So when you think that what's yours is defined by a fence or a border, this is what you do. Dump your garbage to another place, a little farther from "your" place and be happy about it. But once you realize that the whole earth is yours, you will never do this thing and you will act on how to stop destroying the only planet we have.

It seems that for these people, the idea of reduce, reuse, recyle and composting is never heard of, or if heard of, just in passing. I now wonder what kind of institution does this, what kind of learning or awareness parents do have of their own to impart to their children and what kind of learning the kids are gaining from their schools because they don't seem to have any awareness regarding these issues.

A few times I talked to some 8 to 10- year old kids on proper waste management hoping something gets into their head. After all, that's all I can do -educate! But no matter how much education is given if the other is not willing to take it, if the education itself is not re-inforced properly...it never gives better results. I might even end up being tagged as a mad woman or crazy perhaps for giving them such ideas.

Another time I read from a newspaper a statement on cleaning drive that is going on in the dry rivers of Dehradun. It came from a public official. Because it turned out to be a long and difficult task, this cleaning of the dry river in Dehradun, he stated that "there's no need to remove the garbage, (mainly plastics, that are in plenty in the river) because come rainy season the rain would eventually clean it". The stupidest remark I have ever read in a long time. Well, it's not the exact word for word but you get the idea. But having such kind of official in a position what else can be expected? Whew!

I just hope that reading this gives you the drive to do something of your own...to better the world.

The Murder of the Wise

This tree is 21 years old (I really counted the rings in it). It could be as old or even older than the buildings around it. It was cut for I don't know what exact reason but if you want to hear a stupid one, here it is. It was felled because it destroyed the buildings around it. Or maybe because it gave so much shade it feels so cold in winter. Just great, huh! In my viewpoint, these buildings have occupied so much they are the ones destroying this tree and the lives that depend on it. 

To tell  the truth, this happened in my neighborhood...a place that is strategic to be hidden but with what has been done, it just exposed itself and become an easy target. Well

Not only this tree was felled, there were a few more. Bushes and grasses were removed, too. You know what's the most idiotic about this? Those bushes and grasses were removed to shoo away snakes! Well, guess what? When the forest is gone where else do you think animals go? In your own backyard! And with what happened, soil erosion is definitely imminent and trees are not the only ones to fall but the hills themselves. If only nature could choose to bury the people who have these kind of acts with it! Ahhh!

I was watching while this magnificent tree was being cut. What could have I done? Nothing! I didn't do anything! Except swearing to myself that I would never live in such a place and be surrounded with people that are apathetic and dumb, who only know how to get their asses and bellies bigger and fatter.

What could you have done?