Living So Large and Leaving So Little

Posted by Manilakid , On July 25, 2012 , in Per Se

“You think this can last? There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us. “ – Catwoman

This was the invisible whip of Catwoman in the recent Batman movie – not solely intended to hit Bruce Wayne or the citizens of Gotham City. I shrugged when I heard that line. As I was seated in the cinema’s cozy chair, sipping hot chocolate, I can’t help but feel a tinge of guilt.

I imagine this line repeated by a single mom who works day and night for a salary that can barely feed her four children, or by a public school teacher who tries to inspire his students everyday to dream big but he himself cannot get out of the slum where he lives in.

To whom do they address this line?

To those who eat more food than their body can handle, those who buy more clothes than they can wear, those who own more houses than they can live in.

This is addressed to you who uses a computer when 3 billion people live without electricity, to you who can read this post when 120 million children remain uneducated.

Imagine yourself in a trial where you are being sentenced to “death by exile” because you graduated from a prestigious university and is currently working on a high paying job. Imagine your parents being kicked out of their own homes by maids and drivers to live in the streets because all this time, they have enjoyed the fruits of their work.

Have we really lived so large that we have left so little for other people to feast on? Are we too preoccupied with getting the most out of this world – carpe diem – that we forget to share our resources, to be mindful that other people also live? Is it possible for us to really live without leaving others behind?

Dare to move, NVP

Photo from the movie Dark Knight Rises