Thursday, January 24, 2008
I think it is a pretty common question that people ask themselves. 'What will people say about me at my wake when I die?' Seriously, I always wonder why people even bother with such a question. The simple and plain truth is that in general, during a wake, nobody in his or her right state of mind is going to say, 'This guy lying in the coffin.. You know, he was a sucker before he died.' I mean given the societal norms of our time and place, talking bad about somebody at his/her wake seems to be a pretty impolite thing to do.
However, let's say that there is just one such person in the world who happens to dislike you so much that he chooses to go to your wake, shouting about how much of a loser you were or how much you hurt him before you died. Just what has he achieved by doing so? Nothing. You are already dead. There is pretty much nothing he can do to resolve his unhappiness. Maybe by letting it out, he feels better by a little. Then there is pretty much nothing you can do about it since you are already lying in your coffin. Probably with layers of make-up to cover up your decaying skin.
Of course, in such a case, nothing can be done in the future if something like that is to happen. As always, the present is the key. The question here is simply, 'What can you do so that you are certain that such a thing will not happen in future?' The problem is that you can never be certain about it. In everything that you do, there is bound to be some form of benefits to some people and damage to others. We may try everyday to be the nice men and women to everybody but all it takes is just one unlucky day for it to not work out and cause others to dislike you. Ultimately, the most important question is, 'Just how much of yourself are you in the course of your everyday interaction that you could avoid antagonizing others?' If the answer is very little. Then does the benefit of people not talking bad about you during your wake outweigh the trouble of being somebody you are not?
Now, if we stop to think about it, everybody has his or her own right. Our rights come in different forms like right to life, right to be ourselves etc. Suppose that we get on everyday just exercising our rights of being ourselves, what will happen is that some days we may infringe on the rights of others. Thus causing them unhappiness. It is here that I feel that we should not be that bothered with the rights of others in some sense. It is also here that the others whose rights are infringe upon then has the right to do something about it. Be it to scold you or to avoid conflict or more. If the other person does not exercise his/her own right at this point but chooses to hold back and be quiet about it, then that's his/her problem. If he/she chooses to hold it back until your wake and he/she explodes with all his/her unhappiness about you, then I guess it is a form of sympathy for that person as he/she did not have the courage to exercise his/her rights until you are dead?
Haha.. Am I making any sense here? Sounds like an asshole's way of doing things.
The Origin. 1/24/2008 03:45:00 pm
