Little did I know that as the movie unfolds, I'd be facing a situation that I'd later on label as a traumatic experience. I've only had one traumatic experience in my life and so this counts as the second one. Some of you may already be aware but for the sake of those who are not, I'd try to summarize it as best as I can.
Its story is about a man whose job is to supervise the electrocution of vicious criminals. His career led him to meet a man who was wrongly-accused of killing two girls as he tried to heal them with his miraculous God-given healing power. Unfortunately, he failed and that's when people saw him and so misunderstood the situation. He had no witnesses of his miracles at that time and so he was left with no choice but to accept the punishment. That situation alone is saddening as it is but what made the movie a traumatic experience for me was to witness the "failed" electrocution of someone - it was successful because the criminal died but "failed" in a sense that the other supervising police officer deliberately put a dry sponge on top of the man's head. Putting a dry sponge instead of a wet one will cause torture to the person when he is electrocuted and will literally ignite and leave him sparking and burning in flames. People just watched as he screamed in pain. That time when I was watching it, I felt I was there watching the whole scene unfold and I felt fear and shame as I could not do anything to stop the torture. I know it was just a movie but I guess that's what what trauma does to you - I forgot for a few seconds that I was watching something fictional. And that's also the moment when the realization came.
I realized that somehow, humans tend to be meaninglessly cruel to each other. I say meaningless because we want people who've wronged us to be punished by death when we have no right over that person's life. I'm not being a humanitarian here, all I'm saying is that if we really want to punish someone, then ending his/her life is not the appropriate solution. You just let him rest in peace, and that I think is doing someone a favor. If you really want to let him suffer as much as you have because of what he's done, then have him imprisoned for life. Having him locked up with no hope of ever experiencing the sun against his face is the greatest punishment there is - it's like living with no choice of having any other purpose in life - except to live for the sake of repentance.
How ironic it is that we have the capability of killing someone but no power to bring him back.It just goes to show that we are tested everyday not to give in to that capability of ending someone's life no matter how much pain he's caused us.
The movie is right - this world is just so full of dirt - envy, lies, jealousy, power-hungry people, money, murders, and so much more. It is already a miracle that we are able to survive such a gruesome place. And our secret? We unconsciously drive these dirt away from us by looking only at the great things in life.
The secret lies in focusing ONLY on the good things in life that make us happy. Never mind these dirt and entertain the beautiful things life offers us and they'll surely decide to stay. That's what I do and they really stay to keep me even happier.