Man’s Inhumanity to Man
I read a short story earlier today, here on Angie’s Diary called “There Was An Old Man”, about an old man, who had spent his entire life looking out for his family, caring for his fellow man, always paying his way and avoiding debt.
And yet, when the time came when he needed an operation to prolong his life, he was faced with the stark choice of either paying for it or selling up and leaving the proceeds to his children. Needless to say, he took the second option. Why? Because he cared for his children, putting his own immediate needs aside.
While the story is nothing more than fiction, it got me thinking about the callous way people are exploited by those who hold our very existence in their hands.
Daily, people are leaving warzones in their droves, heading to the west in hopes of salvation – take the exodus from Libya as an example.
Millions currently are starving in the Horn of Africa. Stories of people walking for days with their starving children towards makeshift camps, seeking food, water, shelter, and hopefully medical care, fill our television screens each night.
It is becoming far more common these days here in the West, that if you have money, your future needs as you age are guaranteed.
If however, you are living below the poverty line – and there are millions in this predicament; your chances of living out your life with your health and dignity intact are greatly reduced.
As I grow older I appreciate the natural world more and detest my fellow man’s inhumanity to man.
How long will it be before the ‘movers and shakers’ in power determine that the common man costs too much to maintain I wonder? Will the ever-growing gap between the haves and the have not’s worldwide become the next flimsy excuse for war? Food for thought methinks.
I’m currently outlining a dystopian short story on this very subject.