About Opinions, Free Will and Choices ...

This morning, I was reading Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. An amazing story about an ordinary guy who does extraordinary things. Unlike the regular superhero stories that are as common as the common cold in this season, this superhero is just an ordinary guy with an extraordinary gift. A person who can hurt, fear and feel like a living breathing human. Granted, he's a weirdo unlike most of the so-called "normal" people on this planet, but then, that's not such a rare disease. One person known to you who belongs to this distinguished category is yours truly.

Anyway, I'm straying away from the topic at hand. Everyday in the news I hear about mass murderers, terrorists, everyday people who go crazy and murder their own families and so on. What really amazes me is the confidence with which these people impose their "views" and "opinions" on other people by such "honourable" means such as terror and fear. It's one thing to believe in whatever sick, misguided viewpoint you have about this world and quite another to impose it on others.

I believe this is a monster which has spawned from the innocent and good-intentioned way in which the parent, the teacher, the government or even society in general decides what is right and wrong for the general populace and merrily dictates rules to them. The individual has no option but to fall in with the general opinion. To break the predefined code is to invite censure, condemnation, isolation, excommunication and sometimes even punishment.

Not that I'm against law and order. To some extent, it is necessary. Without it, humans would be like a pack of wild hyenas ready to hunt anything and everything down. But now it is turning into a twisted automaton, a relentless juggernaut ready to crush anything and everything that stands in it's way. And one misguided individual with enough mana, be it charisma, power or money, is sufficient to bring unbelievable evil into the world. Case in point, Adolf Hitler.

Regardless of what the society thinks, your own opinion as an individual should always weigh more. And more importantly, it should not matter to you what the person beside you thinks. There is a reason God allowed Free Will. You should be free to choose your own path, regardless of the consequences. Some wise guy said, "Tuam ipsam vive vitam quia tuam ipsam oppetes mortem". In simple english, it means, "Live your own life, for you will die your own death".

All the same, never take a decision that will harm another. Just like you, others also have a right to live their own life in a way they see fit. You have no right to decide for them. The terrorists who used the airline flights as guided missiles to "make a point" were never concerned about the countless innocents they had sentenced to death. All those people were just collateral damage. This is what I hate. If you want to blow yourself up, go on by all means. But don't drag innocents into it.

In this world of evil and hate,

For a few who have twisted their fate,

So many have lost their life and love

Making this earth like Hell below.

- A few lines penned by me