short stories with tragic endings

Life is Hard Enough as it is

Fight for life; fight for what is right. Do not kill, and do not steal. Remember to treat others as you would like to be treated, and always turn the other cheek. Only if life could be simple like the quotes; everything would all make sense and we would know what to do.

Everyday should be full of self-actualization, instead it is a struggle to just survive – ambitions fail. Losing sight of "we" and focused in on "I", lying in bed, another night is over, another day begins; humanity has waged a war on itself – we are our own enemy. Taught to distrust and undermine; taught to climb the cool-ass ladder. All this talk sucks the air until there is nothing else to breathe.

The vehement control of life has gone undisciplined forever and is now the very nature of our lives. They say it is for us, that it is done for order – educational, religious and authoritative comfort. Nothing could be further from the truth. Children of Men, a film by Alfoson Cuaron, takes place in an akin version of the world we live in, a world where democracy is brought in a bullet. They bleed for their ideals – they kill for their ideals.

This film not only shows the ruthlessness of government, Cuaron brings to life the resistance movement as well. Just as the men and women of authority are heartless, the same disposition is within those opposed of the totalitarian government – using fire to fight fire. (Another one of those quotes. On a side note; firefighters actually use controlled fires to combat huge forest fires. So, there is some method to this madness.) In this world of disease and war no one is safe, no one truly has comfort. Life has nothing worth living for and everything is worth dying for. Those who sacrificed their freedom for security now have neither and those who fought back are now in-caged like animals.

One can argue that those who took the lives' of others, and imprisoned the rest, are people of pure evil bound to spend entirety in Hell. Others can argue they were doing their job and were merely pawns in another man's war, and that they, themselves offer no reason to be condemned. Regardless of which side of the argument a persons is on, both sides agree that there is an excess of violence; justifiable or not, the taking of lives' is the greatest sin of all.

Ambrose Bierce, in her story "Chickamauga," brings to life a wonderful story of a little child playing in the woods. Innocent and pure of heart, this child has never seen evil nor has ever felt violence. Bierce suddenly changes the mood of her story from one of joy to one of despair. In the midst of the Civil War, in every bloody battle, thousands of confused individuals offered their life and took the lives' of others all in the name of what is right. Violence does not fix anything nor does it rid anything from existence. In "Chickamauga" and Children of Men no one is left complacent, no one found the answer, and no one is happy.

Put on a smile, it will make it okay – take this drink. Hide behind intelligence, everything is ignorance, and it cannot be part of the mold. No one gets away, and no one gives in. One cannot eat from the devil's table and sit at God's.