I’ve always wondered about how life used to be in the olden days when honor was still a thing that was taken to the extreme. Back when a man’s word was his bond and because of how trustworthy you were, people could actually bank on what you said. Back then, people did a lot to protect their honor and dignity, even at the cost of their lives.
And then, in today’s world, no one cares about honor anymore. Besides, the system the world runs on now doesn’t even allow for honor at all. You simply do what you can, regardless of the impact. Because in the end, for most of us, all that matters is that you get what you’re after. Not what others think of you.
Just this morning, I was wondering about the concept of duels. I mean the kind that people fought to the death. Either by swords or by guns, even by fists… duels were really prevalent but later deemed illegal due to how barbaric it was.
You might be fighting for honorable reasons, like to protect your family’s honor or to secure your position in an organization. But it doesn’t make it any less crazy. Back then, people dueled for the most insane reasons; love, money, and honor. And even those who didn’t know how to fight sometimes paid people to fight for them. So, if you had no money and you had no fighting skills as a man, then you were really screwed.
Well, I’m thankful for civilization. Law and order is the only thing keeping people from acting out on their basest instincts. I know that duels are something that’s not only common to humans, but it’s also prevalent in the animal kingdom. Animals will always fight their kind to exert dominance over their kind and the strongest will almost always be the victor while everyone else follows.
But humans, being the sensible creatures that we are, chose a cleaner approach to exerting dominance. Sadly, it’s not any less violent than that of the animal kingdom. From time immemorial, governments have done unspeakable things just to come into power, and the moment they get there, they do more unspeakable things to remain there. That’s what’s happening in almost every corner of the world today.
Duels are barbaric, but they’re not really as obsolete as we think. We’re still doing it in this day and time, just in a different way and with different costs. Back then, when two people dueled, one would be the victor and the other would be the vanquished. But today, when two people duel, neither of them will feel the effects. But innocent people who just want to live their lives in peace will be the ones suffering as a result.
This reminds me of my days in secondary school. Fighting in class was risky, you could easily be seen by teachers and that could lead to expulsion. So, all fights were kept to break time or closing time. During the break, everyone went to the school field and formed a circle around the fighters to allow them to have a go at each other. If it was after school, they went somewhere else outside the school. Either way, everyone was always on guard to make sure the fight didn’t get out of hand because if it did the entire class could be in trouble.
Thankfully, such a practice was eventually abolished due to the stringent rules placed by the school administration. It all happened during my Junior Secondary and by the time I got into Senior Secondary, it had stopped entirely. This just shows how far the world has come.
Humans have been on earth for thousands of years, and you’d think that we’d have solved murder once and for all. Did we? No!! We found easier ways to do it. We still have wars, and people are still being douchebags. Many of these governments are just using us to fight duels against each other, they’re fueled by their egos and their loyalties are only to their wallets. Every decision they make is designed to favor only them and we’re the ones who suffer the repercussions of these laws.
Duels are very much a way of life now. It’s not until you’re in an open field and pointing swords at each other that you’re in a duel. Many of us are in a duel right now and we don’t even know it. But we’re suffering for it. That’s how bad it is.
