I watched a Manga series – Death Note which made me question my idea of good and bad. Through the days of watching this series, I tried to read daily to understand what is good and bad.
So the crux of the answer to what is good – ‘that which is morally right’. And the opposite of which is ‘that which is morally incorrect or immoral’ can be the answer to what is bad. Now, this sounds simple but it isn’t.
In the series, Death Note, a boy gets a book that allows him to kill people by writing names in it. He uses it to kill criminals. He wishes to kill all criminals on earth and become the God of a new world. You’ll have to watch the series to find that out if he really becomes God.
My mind in the first few episodes told me that yes, he is doing the right thing. Killing criminals with the help of a powerful book isn’t bad after all. As the show progressed, my mind refused to think more. I couldn’t understand whether killing criminals was right or wrong.
Halfway through the series, I realized that killing criminals can’t be a solution to end crime and hence to use a book to do so might not be right. By the end, I was drained mentally thinking and differentiating between good and bad.
I was still in a haze with the ideas that this series left me with when I saw a Malayalam movie called Varathan. In this one, there is a clear description of good and bad. The transformation of the lead character by the end is fascinating.
In the beginning, the lead character is shown as calm and timid. He doesn’t even wish to kill a cockroach in his house, leave aside killing people for his family. In the last scene, he and his wife spot a cockroach again and this time he kills it without a thought. His wife smiles at him for doing so.
What makes him change drastically, is a question that watching the movie will give you. But, what it made me question is, – is killing your enemies the right thing to do? Does the movie try to say that the world is bad and being timid is wrong, you should stand up for yourself and kill the evil if need be?
Watching Death Note and Varathan one after another wasn’t good for my mind. I couldn’t differentiate between good and bad anymore. I had to find the answer to what is good and bad. And a simple definition of ‘that which is morally right’ wouldn’t suffice anymore.
After thinking for a while, a distant memory of my first lecture of junior college struck me. The teacher began the class with the following situation –
Imagine you are a person with strong principles. You don’t drink at all. Imagine that you fell extremely sick now in a faraway farmhouse. The only cure is a drink. Will you have it? Is it a good idea to have it and let go of the principles you stand by?
The class became noisy and some arguments began to stir the air as well. There were people who had taken clear sides of whether to drink or do not. I was confused. To go against what I believe in and to stay sick, I said doing either feels wrong to me.
After creating chaos that became difficult to handle, the teacher calmed us down and said. ‘It is not about what is good or bad. In any situation, it is important to be wise. The wise thing to do is to drink and cure oneself. And to be careful to not fall for the bad habit of drinking in future.
She was my Philosophy teacher – Ali Ma’am. She ended the class discussion with the importance of becoming wise and gaining wisdom through the subject Philosophy (love of wisdom).
The lead character of the Manga series Death Note who receives the book could hand it over to the trusted police and investigation forces who would use it wisely against difficult criminals. I believe that could possibly a wise thing to do. I am not sure of it though.
In the movie Varathan, killing people wasn’t a wise thing to do surely. The movie gets the lead in a situation where he has no option left but to kill his enemies. A wise call would be to perhaps not let something go bad at that level. Instead, using connections and making sure that the evil is dealt with by police or other forces before it reaches to kill you.
Having said so, neither Death Note nor Varathan would be entertaining if the above happened. The little evil side to the lead of Death Note makes the series interesting. And the portrayal of the transformation of the lead character in Varathan is beautiful.
But, in my reality, I have taken notes and learned my lessons from both the things I watched. I have a list of people I believe I would wish to kill if I find a powerful book as such. Though I know me and I perhaps won’t do so, might handle it differently. How I am not sure, but won’t use it an evil manner surely.
Unlike in Varathan, I would never let my family’s relation come down with anyone so much that the only way left is to kill someone for our safety. It would be easy considering the extremely low social life that my family has.
More importantly, watching Death Note and Varathan and cleared my concept of good and bad. It has reminded me of the importance of being wise and why I should focus on fetching wisdom and not finding the meaning of good and bad.
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