Earth Song

Being bored and having nothing to do for these few days, I've developed a very profound appreciation towards good music. Knowing that my passion in music lies in the 90s tunes, I dug deep into the repertoires of some musical names, and when I did so with Michael Jackson, the fading pop star whose past bears more glory than any other musicians that ever walked on the face of the Earth, I found this very touching and eye-opening music video, "Earth Song". At first, I had a rare sense of deja-vu when I watched the video on YouTube (The song was released in 1995 when I was six and it was a global hit at that time). Here the video is:



Okay, the video and the song itself, which revolved around the theme of the Earthly problems that humanity was (and is) currently facing, has managed to profoundly affect, at least. The song, sung in a very intense tone by Jackson, touched the issues that we always know but never bother to care about. The scene of war depicted in the video did remind me of the terror and violence that have always been part of the human's history of so-called civilization. We are all blessed with a wonderful brain to think, and an opportunity to understand what's happening in the world, but most of us choose to remain apathethic to the real conditions that our world is facing. Apathy and ignorance. We're all adopting these two values as our religion, unfortunately.

Talking about war, destitution, and destruction of mankind, I can never resist myself from talking about the ongoing conflicts that are clutching the lives of the Palestinians who have been the victims of our apathy and utter ignorance for so long.

AirAsia's tagline "now everyone can fly" cannot be applied to the people of the Gaza strip. Why did I say so? Look at the picture below:


If you think that our LCCT baggage handling system sucks, here you go:


If you think that your local airport's interior is too dull for your eyes to see, here you go:


Okay, with their borders being sealed and their airports being terribly vandalized, how are the people of the West Bank supposed to get out of their war-torn land to search for a warmer pasture, to study and conduct research, to visit their relatives, to perform their obligatory hajj, to watch the latest Rihanna's or Mariah's concert, or to even have a romantic honeymoon in Paris. Do they have to swim their way out, or do they have to be clad as a superman and fly on their own? I don't have any idea.

The ways the West Bank is being sealed bear some resemblances with the ways Hitler committed his atrocity towards the Jews of Warsaw by containing them all into the small, cramped, and dilapidated Warsaw Ghetto. It looks like us humans really love to commit the same mistake, over and over again. Back to my earlier point, it's all due to our own apathy and ignorance.

In the 21st century remake of Warsaw Ghetto, violence is an everyday's issue. Look at the images that I've found from the net (the miracles of Google are endless).

A streetscene in the heavily-bombed West Bank


A streetscene in the heavily-bombed Warsaw Ghetto

Cute babies and kids in the West Bank:
Cute babies and kids in Warsaw Ghetto:
The babies died and smiled. I know that the fallen kids will surely go to heaven. There, in heaven, their smile should always fill the air, void of the worldly hatred that the adults possess.

If you're dying to see the fruits of humans' apathy and ignorance, here you go:

Warsaw Ghetto, 1945

West Bank, 2009

Can you spot the very similarities between the two images of man-made destruction?

This happens when we never learn from history. This happens when we don't learn from the sufferings of our fathers and the mistakes that they've committed. I believe that many of those involved in the recent violence and aggressions in the West Bank have their fathers and mothers surviving the ordeals and atrocity in the Warsaw Ghetto. If they're still alive, feel free to ask them. How does it feel, having your family murdered and dignity snatched away. I think they'll be more than willing to give you an honest and truthful answer to that.

Apathy and ignorance.



Faizal Hamssin