Let's Talk about Choices

"Did you hear about what happened in the U.S?"

"Are you talking about the mysterious drones appearing in the American airspace?"

"No, about the guy who shot the CEO of UnitedHealth..."

"Of yeah...Crazy...But, we all know how corrupt many of these insurance companies are. Remember John Grisham's The Rainmaker?"

"But, to kill someone innocent to make a statement? I don't agree with that."

"Of course, you won't. You are a Gandhian. But, may be, sometimes such  drastic measures are necessary  to shake up the system..." 

"I agree. Quite a good-looking fella he is. Only 26. Looks like someone Da Vinci would have sketched. Hmmm...what's his name?"

"Luigi Mangione. Did you read how his instagram following surged from 945 to 64000 and above? Meta had to shut down his account."

"Wow".

"I don't think one needs to resort to violence. I don't condone any kind of violence."

"That's you, man! But, really, we all know what kind of system we are up against. Education and health cannot be privileges, but a right of every citizen. They cannot be run as corporations, but as services...their objectives cannot be windfall profits but well-being of the people. But, in America..." 

The furious swell of the rains drowns our conversation. We sit in the dark, chugging along our respective train of thought. Shadows waver violently in the candlelight, roaring winds silence everything in their wake... According to the meteorological department,  another cyclone is brewing.They have not named it yet. 

"Do you know they are being spotted all over U.K. too?"

"What?"

"The mysterious drones."

"Don't you find it strange that they know more about a disappearing star millions of light-years away than about the appearance of drones in their very own chunk of sky? I feel they are just trying to distract the people from something."

"Distract them from the kind of debates the homicide of Brian Thompson (the CEO of UnitedHealth) has flung into the public arena and from the ire of frustrated people! Almost all Americans, at some point in their lives, have been taken for a ride by the bloodthirsty, profit-oriented healthcare system".

"Yes, even Barack Obama could not overhaul it despite it being part of the agenda on which he ran. Tinker with it, he could, but, not change...so frighteningly influential is this multi-billion dollar industry represented by a powerful lobby".

A blinding flash of lightening momentarily releases the raging night from its darkling clasp,  followed immediately by a deafening roll of thunder. So synchronized are these two acts, so superimposed that we know the storm is right above us. Just two days ago, electricity and internet had finally been restored to our area after Cyclone Fengal has swept through it, bringing down powerlines and trees and blocking roads, severing man from civilization.  And now we were at the mercy of yet another one. How helpless we felt as we sat there in the grip of the looming shadows and flickering candles. A millipede crawled onto the table from somewhere. We let it be. It wasn't there by choice. 

Nor was Luigi Mangione in jail by choice. Like almost every American citizen he too was both repulsed and a victim of the malpractices as perpetrated by private insurance companies. According to some reports, UnitedHealth was allegedly using a flawed AI algorithm and overriding doctors to deny patients critical heathcare coverage. Much of Mangione's inspiration to act came from Michael Moore's movie 'Sicko' which underscores the 'mass-death and misery' committed by the medical industry of the U.S. because of denied claims, bottomless deductibles and ballooning premiums. So, to Moore, 'The anger is more than 1000 percent justified'. And, as per the comments and support Mangione received on social media, it is clear that a good number of people agree with Moore. For instead of accusing him of advocating violence, they viewed him as some kind of a pragmatic social activist advocating the urgency of a much-needed change in a vital section of the society and the nation.  He became America's very own Robin Hood trying to unshackle the average man from the corrupt healthcare industry and to ignite debates in order to inject into it a more humane  energy. 

"If you support what Luigi Mangione did and his supposedly reasonable manifesto, organizations like the RSS who  idolize  Nathuram Godse, the guy who shot Mahatma Gandhi would feel avenged and amply justified. Do you know Godse too wrote a whole book detailing his rationale as to why the Mahatma needed to go?"

Another flash of lightening...followed by the rumbling thunder. There were six counts in-between, which meant the action has moved six kms away from us. But the rains continue to lash down and the winds to howl. The otherwise distant sound of the breaking waves is upon us with all its passion and fury,  leaving no room to think, ponder,  condemn, condone...the question hangs amidst us like Chimera itself.

The candles are dwindling fast. The flames are reduced to tiny scintillating points of cinders. I scramble to look for fresh ones before complete darkness takes over. Something crunchy under my foot gives way with an imperceptive yet surprisingly audible sound. 

"Oh no!"

The millipede lies dead, broken in half, beyond salvage, like a damaged slinky. 

Let's talk about choices.