What have we become

From To Kill A Mockingbird, "Cry about the simple hell people give other people - without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give coloured folks, without even thinking that they're people, too."

This book was first published in 1960 and I believe since then, many people would have read it before. Sadly, it seem that we have not learnt much from it. This quote was said by Mr Dolphus Raymond to Dill and Scout, when Dill was crying uncontrollably at the way Mr Gilmer was doing Tom Robinson. The quote refers to the unjustified ways people are treating people, without a tinge of basic respect and consideration.

Recently, 18-year-old undergraduate Tyler Clementi jumped of the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River because his roommate had streamed a video online of his sexual encourter with another man. Closer to home, a sex video of two ACJC female students was circulated around the campus. This has lead the duo leaving the school.

After so many millions and billions of years of living, have we not learnt anything about tolerance, consideration and respect? Is it possible for us to just take a minute and think about the consequences of our actions, before committing an act that will not only destroy somebody else's life, but also scar many others? Can we just stop being so self-centered?

From A raisin in the Sun, "while I was sleeping in that bed in there, people went out and took the future right out of my hands! And nobody asked me, nobody consulted me - they just went out and changed my life!"

Many would have blamed what we have become today on technology, that because anything is possible at just a button away, it is so much easier to make someone live in hell. With Facebook, Youtube and blogs, the key to someone else's past is in your hands. So is the future. However, before technological revolution came about, people had long started judging and discriminating people who are different from who they are, which makes me wonder, has education done us any good? After acing all the examinations, have we learn to be a more understanding and accepting person? Have they taught us the right way to treat people because that is the way we would want to be treated? It is poignant to know that as literacy rate have been rising in many countries, we are not as educated as we seem. We still make similar silly mistakes as before.

As much as this is overused, we cannot deny that 'with great power comes great responsiblity.' It is obvious that the developement of technology has been far too fast for humans to handle. If there is nothing we can do to slow it down, we just have to work much harder than before to educate ourselves the importance of respect and tolerance in today's society. It is time we mature. It is time we try to understand that people live like they do because that is the way they want to live and we are in no position to judge at all.