Yes, mankind feels the pain, the pain of savagely butchering blameless young lives and slaughtering all human values. The fire of vengeance has stripped us of all our ethics, and has left us bare, worse than any brutal beast.
Apart from the outrage evoked, this barbaric attack has compelled people across the world to introspect. Do we understand that beneath all religions, beliefs, castes and creeds, it is the same blood which flows in all our veins? Do we comprehend that this red blood when spilled indicates the death of love, compassion and empathy? Do we even value the life of another human being?
This is, indeed, the darkest hour for humanity. From the ethnic cleansing in Iraq, to the conflict in Gaza and now, the slaughter of school children in Peshawar, each act is a breach of the maxims which define our so-called supremacy as the human race. Without these principles, we are worse than beasts, we are monsters, because even animals abide by their societal codes.
Each attack, each conflict, is a reminder for us to learn our lessons and to learn them quick. The world we will leave to our future generations rowing increasingly treacherous, with human life losing its value day by day. Bombshells, bullets and guns are becoming mere playthings and war-mongering and terrorism, commonplace.
The belief that children are the purest form of all life is shared across religious and cultural lines. Why, then, must they serve as collateral damage in a meaningless clash of ideologies? Sadly, this is no world for children. It is simply a graveyard for humankind.
In life, these children brought warmth and joy to all. In death, they united the globe in the spirit of solidarity and introspection. Let this bloodbath be a wakeup call, to give humanity a chance with peace. Let a child’s guileless smile, again, be the most priceless possession of all eternity. Let us, again, reanalyze the meaning of the word ‘human’.