The Truth, and only the Truth
Mahathi Sathish

"Words are not small things" - Fredrick Backman

It is a sad fact that even in the year 2022, the Earth is torn apart by invisible boundaries. At every nook and cranny a fire is raging, a war is brewing and the burden of conflict seems inevitable. With their sharp gazes and fiery tongues, people have started razing the world to ashes, just by their words. The impulsive and almost relentless urge to pass a comment on the recent events of the day, to laugh at the troubles of a rivalrous nation and to mock, with unending derision the cruelties of our race has become a compilation of human instincts. We believe that our enemy's tragedy is our chance at glory. And so, we give into our most monstrous urges and make ruins out of their foundations, poisoning our minds to believe that they deserved it.

Along with the surging rise in technology, we have slowly evolved to become a frivolous species, with the undying belief that all the world's a stage and that we are merely commenters. And unfortunately, social media has unwillingly ended up feeding fuel to this superficial cause, by allowing people to post their most vexing and derisive thoughts for all eyes to see. While such a tool is meant to be used for the betterment of humanity by raising queries and concerns and bringing to light the henious crimes that thrive in the darkness of the night, it is in practicality, quite rarely used as such. People use social media for the same reason they watch reality TV, in wait for drama to unfold. More and more users have started feuding online, provoking and offending vast communities with their prejudiced and contentious opinions. And their defense is quite hard to refute, because after making a mockery of half the world's population their point in case are the words "Freedom of Expression" followed by the term, "A Constitutional Right". How can you refute someone who eternally believes that it is their right to start a war?

Words start wars. Everyone is one word away from losing everything they hold dear. Anne Frank once bravely stated, "Optimists and pessimists — not to mention the realists —air their opinions with unflagging energy, and as with everything else, they're all certain that they have a monopoly on the truth."

This is the harsh reality of why peace degenerates into spokes of unreeling chaos. Why people, despite living content and joyous lives find the bigotting need to bring down the lives of those they deem unfit. The reason why world peace moves further and further away from us each year is because as the years pass, we forget what it truly means to be united. We live in isolation, limiting ourselves to the screens we hold dear. And as the days blur together, the truth and only the truth is that our future, is in our hands and we are effortlessly destroying it.