The Pricetag of A Human Life

Yesterday afternoon during lunch with colleague, she pointed out there's been quite a number of bodies found in water (here in Singapore). There's the maid in the water tank of a HDB flat; there's the half-body found in Bedok reservoir; and there's the body floating in Singapore River. Are there any others? I can't remember.

Unless someone invented an immortal pill, death is something everyone has to go through. It's nothing new, but there is something about it that bothers me — it's how the living regards the dead that bemuses me, to a certain extent. I say "to a certain extent" because I can understand the "why", but I question the validity of it.

That which bemuses me, is this: why do people feel so deeply for a celebrity's death (like MJ, Princess D, etc. you get the drift) and yet can feel so much lesser, comparatively, if it's "just" an unknown person that they somewhat knew but weren't close with? Is this person "just" another person because he or she wasn't famous enough to be known and remembered by a large enough group? Suppose all things are equal, the difference of reactions towards the two dead due to their status/level of fame (or the lack thereof) is what gets under my skin (albeit just a tiny bit, it's there nonetheless).

So what? You may ask. Yes, indeed. So what if people react to the two dead people differently? Why did it irk me? They're dead anyway, it wouldn't make any difference to them.

Perhaps, you're right. But I guess, to me, this indirectly reflects how we regard life, how we give different people a label of how much they're worth - both in general, as in the case of celebrities; and to us, in the case of our daily lives. In fact, how we view the dead is not too far of from how we treat the living.

Observe your surroundings, and you'll know what I mean. We're all biased. That's usually fine, because we're all imperfect, but that doesn't give us an excuse to mistreat or disrespect others.

Just something to think about. Maybe, just maybe, it may change how you behave to the stranger next to you.