its a pity

Today, I found a news article which talked about the passengers on the plane. I've realised that when we listen to the number of deaths in a accidents, wars, etc. we don't really recognise the importance of those number of deaths. By giving us a number, they've reduced each person's individuality into a numerical unit and turned them into objects instead.

The Air France AF447 contained passengers like:
Jose Rommel Amorim, who was celebrating his birthday;
Ana Negra had just celebrated her honeymoon in Brazil, and had made last minute plans to change flights to visit her family;
A company from France had lost 10 of its employees in the crash, who had sent their employees on a holiday to reward them for their dedicated work;
and
Christine Pierearts, a woman who had just recovered from a stroke and was finally having her normal life back.

For every death that occurs in the war zones of Iran, Iraq, South Africa and more, they are people. They have left their fingerprints on the hearts of friends and families, and each have their own life story, personality, dreams and ideals.

It's a shame that we have become so used to news reports which begin with "80 have died as a result of a..." that we are hardly saddened by the news anymore. Another article in the newspaper had suggested that the constant bombardment of information from internet sites and social networking sites have left us emotionless. Emotions such as admiration, compassion, hope, anguish happens in the front part of our brain, which is often slower to react than other parts and skipped out entirely in stressful situations.

All this constant bombardment of information has left the generations more apathetic to what they are seeing or hearing. 100 died? Oh well, the world is a terrible place these days.

We fail to realise that these people had futures ahead of them, that they were living their lives before they had died.

But it really is a pity that so many people have had to die, when we are living in a world of supposed peace.

2009-06-03
7:12 p.m.
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