A Hurtful Advancing Civilization: A Personal Reflection
From the death and misery of war to realizing that we can make life better for everyone.
Hi there. I will take you on an adventure with me, but I need your imagination, it's a quick experience, so let’s start.
Close your eyes and envision Homo erectus, our ancient ancestor, discovering fire, our first true piece of technology. Surely, the exhilaration they felt mirrored our own upon witnessing such transformative power. Humankind witnessed such power for the first time, a power to transform, destroy, and create within them. Our struggle for survival became more interesting.
The thrill of discovering something new excites you, just like it does for me. So, I'll give you a remote control to explore humanity's greatest discoveries. Enjoy the journey! You'll see everything from fire and stone tools to the wheel and gunpowder. Then, things got even more interesting in the 19th century with the steam engine, railways, and the light bulb! In the 20th century, you'll witness inventions like the automobile, television, nuclear power, spacecraft, the Internet, and finally, in the 21st century, the rise of artificial intelligence! You'll be amazed at how far we've come. So, when you open your eyes, you'll likely say, "Humans are gods!"
I smile in agreement. Now, close your eyes again. Here is another remote control that takes you through human conflicts. You see Homo sapiens hunting each other out of blind fear, followed by Bronze Age wars and Rome's conquests. The Mongol Conquests and the Hundred Years' War captivate you. Then, the World Wars era arrived, with its massive conflicts – World War II which resulted in millions of deaths, then many conflicts and wars coming after such as the Cold War, Vietnam, Iraq, Ukraine, and Gaza. You grow weary, asking, "But why?"
You're disappointed in humanity. How can greed and power-seeking lead to such conflicts throughout history? You feel conflicted – grateful for humanity's achievements, yet disappointed in its actions. Knowing geopolitical conflicts could lead to nuclear war worsens your feelings. You ask, "What now?"
Well, now it’s time to tell you my personal experience with the hurtful advancing civilization. I was born in a city that turned into an open-air prison, where my people were killed and displaced from their homes for years. In fact I just escaped a very brutal war after 145 days of being desperately stuck there, where I lost family members, friends, and home. I was so close to losing myself. Fortunately, I survived. Now, I’m living in Europe, where I should thrive in life, but wait. My family and two million innocent people are stuck there for more than 6 months, facing constant death from unceasing bombing and starvation. But you know what? Death is not the main issue; it's the voices inside their heads. After a couple of months of being stuck in a war, you will start to hear voices inside your head: Why do we have to suffer? Why always us? Where is God in all of this? Why isn't the great West stopping this genocide? Why do kids get killed? Why don't people have the choice to live a normal, peaceful life? And so on.
For me, it’s so hard to think about it. I grew up dreaming of making the world a better place. I always looked up to the greatest inventors. I like humanity, and I’m aware of its flaws. Yet, this doesn’t justify us continuing this useless fighting. For me, it’s hard to dream of a great world while my mom could be killed at any moment from random bombing, or when more than two million innocent people have been without enough water, food, electricity, and any type of safety for more than six months now!
But to be honest, sometimes I feel very lucky. I mean, I survived more than five wars and made it out to Europe, so I just witnessed the worst conditions a human can live in. After many years of gray and misery, here I am on the bright side. I should be happy, but I’m not. Experiencing this war changed me completely. Death was so close many times, which made me question everything about my life and myself. Death is horrifying in the young; for me, I didn’t mind dying, but my only concern was that if I died today, my life would have amounted to nothing. Well, I have had a good career so far, but zero impactful achievements can be named after me. The fact that I didn’t impact anyone’s life in a good way hurts me to the bone because I know I have the ideas and the energy to do so.
Now, you might think how naive I am, but honestly, I believe that sometimes you need to be a bit naive to live peacefully. When we try to make the world a better place while knowing that others make it worse, it's necessary to be naive so you can push through it. I’m aware of the suffering we humans cause each other, but we need to try our best to push civilization forward and reduce the suffering of others.
So, what's next? I'm not sure. I'm a 28-year-old uncivilized boy, with a huge amount of energy, who is willing to commit to making the world a better place for all and making life less suffering for the oppressed ones all around the world. But, the truth is that I need to change myself first; this war showed me how weak I am. I wasn’t solid when death was close, and my ego got broken, which is good. This showed me that I’m full of flaws, and this war pointed me to them, so it’s time to fix them while I’m trying to achieve my goals. Big goals require doers, not just talkers. For me, it's time to act
For you, my friend, I urge you to empathize with those in "third world" countries. They face hardships they didn't choose. Please understand their struggles and offer help whenever possible. To conclude, I'll leave you with a quote from Robert F. Kennedy's speech:
There is discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere. These are differing evils, but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility towards the suffering of our fellows. But we can perhaps remember -- even if only for a time -- that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek -- as we do -- nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.
Here is another post I wrote while I was stuck in the war: “This War Cannot Be The End Of My Story”