Why Do I Feel so Bad? Part 2

It's All in the Mind

People seem to move along in their very own twilight zone – somewhere between reality and where I am. People don’t see each other, appreciate each other, or care to do so. They start to look glazed; comatose; they don’t seem to feel anymore. If someone was to start jumping around and doing somersaults in the street they’d probably mutter under their breath, “Look he’s gone crazy” and then they’d continue to walk away. But really, who is crazy – the one doing the somersaults or the one who doesn’t bother to ask or wonder why he’s doing that? People say that love is like the wind – you can’t see it but you can feel it. Maybe sanity it like that too..

But I have to ask, where did all this start? The world now calls itself a global village – but I think it’s more like a global factory churning out desensitized, materialistic individuals who suffer from compulsions to buy and fit into predetermined definitions of beauty and acceptability. Modern man is running a frantic race – thinking he’s heading toward comfort, freedom, and ease, when he’s really destroying himself.

A village implies a group of people who work together for the common good; who communicate and perceive life in a similar way; share a common culture. But let me remind you that people get raped and murdered on the street everyday amidst crowds of passersby. These other people, supposedly belonging to the same global village, just walk past them as if they’re not even there – as if they’re not really screaming, dripping with blood and dying in front of their eyes. (I wonder what they think about when they saunter down the street after seeing something like that..)

Maybe we’re not from different villages; maybe we’re from different planets – maybe that’s it.

I exist. I know that because I can pinch myself and feel pain but what do we do with our existence? Modern man rushes out to work – mustn’t be late! Then he rushes home again, watches TV, eats (usually unhealthy food), drinks copious amounts of alcohol, socializes weekly with people who think and live like him, ignores his family and sleeps (I wonder what he dreams about), then wakes up to the barbaric sound of an alarm clock only to do it all over again without ever really taking the time to stop and wonder why..

Running alongside this mundane lifecycle run issues for hot discussion. Issues like:

• women have the right to live boring, meaningless, routine, mundane lifestyles just like the men
• who really is the best opportunistic, materialistic, inhuman, self-serving, glib-tongued con-artist who’d make the best head of state this time round…
• and of course the importance of sport is discussed with enthusiasm and valor! In the past sport served many functions especially in the days of the Roman empire. Whenever the masses were oppressed and starving the sly leaders of that day knew what to do.. Oh yes they didn’t remove hardship, share their wealth, or provide opportunities, no! They organized sporting events to keep the masses diverted from the real issues; just a pinch away from reality – for a while at least..
• then there’s listening to soul disturbing music and watching violent, blood thirsty, surrealistic films – all to further enhance our already over-developed sense of unreality..

My mum used to tell me that as long I think I’m crazy, I’m not. She was trying to comfort me.

I seem to remember the days when there were grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins – something called ‘an extended family.’ These people actually formed something of a circle around the individual, cushioning life’s blows and providing a somewhat stable foundation on which to grow and learn to deal with reality. Where are they now?

Modern man has pushed them out of the framework of life into the outer perimeters and he did so in one foul swoop – the building of the modern day apartment. It is suitable in size and affordability for the perfect modern family consisting of: mum, dad, and 2.2 children. (I often wonder how statistics are worked out..)

So with distances dividing parents and children, uncles, aunts and nieces and nephews, along with the pressures of modern life preventing people from even visiting each other regularly enough to form meaningful relationships – we end up like a drowning man losing the last strong hand hold and set to sink into chaotic frantic pushing and shoving in the rat race of the modern world..

People talk about courses to teach us how to cope with stress, tension, and the pressures of modern life – but hasn’t anyone thought of a way to actually get rid of all these pressures once and for all?

It is like modern man is wrapping a cord around his, and everyone’s else’s neck, and then teaching them, in a very humanitarian way, courses in steady controlled breathing exercises so as to slow down the process of suffocation. They call it kindness..

Why not just unwrap the cord and look for another alternative? But then, who'd listen to me. People say I’m crazy…

Selma A. Cook is an Aussie Muslim writer who lives and works in Egypt.  She has written a number of books including: Buried Treasure (An Islamic novel for teenagers), The Light of Submission (Islamic Poetry). She has also edited and revised many Islamic books. She can be contacted at: youth_campaign@iolteam.com.