Written by Sakhi Maheshwari
Edited by Sunaina
Illustrated by Deepshikha Bannerjee
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The candle flickered,
it sparked once or twice,
yet the flame died down.
Have you ever seen it happen to a human?
Oh, but perhaps, you have.
Do you remember that one teacher,
that tried her hardest,
but failed to capture your attention?
Or that boy in school,
who lost the school captain elections,
to someone who the majority deemed as more 'handsome'?
Do you remember,
that one friend,
who you laughed at and mocked,
as they recited to you their dream?
Or that new adult,
who lost his humor,
for the sake of another?
Do you remember that one hobby,
of your own self,
that you gave up on,
for the world deemed it as regardless?
Did you forget,
the colors of the sunset?
Are they the same colors that you had seen as a child?
Does the rain still give you the same happiness, or the same annoyance,
that it did when you were five?
Does the ice cream shop still excite you?
Do you still feel excited, happy,
furious and bewitched,
the same way you did 10 years ago.
And now,
that it is established,
that you have seen a spark die out,
Did you ever think to give it some help?
Did you think of giving it some more oxygen,
some more wax,
some more oil for it to burn?
Perhaps yes,
yet probably not.
You stood like the audience,
The one that takes their phone out to record,
to capture the disaster,
the one who stands to watch,
never taking one step forward,
as the scene in front of you unfolds,
'the candle flickered,
it sparked once or twice,
and you let the flame die out'.
Just as with the flame, death strikes every living being. From the perspective of the renowned philosopher Nietzsche, whose quote of “God is dead” remains infamous, what does this phenomenon of death truly mean?
Far from a religious notion of a god, this statement pertaining to death has been interpreted as the death of morality and a universal code of values that bind humanity as it did centuries ago.
Without a governing entity above all of humanity (i.e. the metaphysical God mentioned here), there come into being ‘Supermen’ who replace the figure of God to command power and seek to mould societies from their code of values and beliefs. These ‘Supermen’ may be interpreted as new-age tyrants who impose arbitrary rules on society.
Or as free-thinking visionaries, who, free from religious and political shackles, set out to usher in a modern, intellectual order of their own.
The death of God here has led to the birth of the independent visionary. And the message is clear –
There cannot be birth without first a death. In order for great things to be achieved, there is bound to be death in a metaphorical sense along the way, in the form of sacrifices. But when one door closes and the journey seems to ‘die’, another door opens, this time a grander vista to another destination.
After all, when a candle flame dies as we blow it out, it simply means the dawn is here and the candle flame is no longer required in the light of the promising day.
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