Science vs Humanity

Can humanity be tested with a scientific experiment? One with a hypothesis, variables and finally brings you to a conclusion? interesting.... This is the question posted in the movie "The Forgotten", a movie that I'd watched in the cinema couple of years ago with some friends, and had recently watched it again on the TV with my family. Obviously, it is one of my favourites.

In the movie, the aliens abducted some kids and faked a plane crash to cover it up. They subsequently erased memories of the kids from every human mind. All these aim to prove their hypothesis that the bond between parents and children is dissolvable, just like any other molecular bond. All except one mother denied the existence of the children. The mother then went on an adventure to prove her memory, and finally found herself standing up against the alien to combat him face to face, while holding on to the memories of her son, defending them from being taken away by the alien. Of course, as with most movies, it ended with a happily-ever-after ending.

However, to me, this is more than just any movie. This movie has succeeded in magnifying the fact that humanity is far more superior than science. Humanity can never be tested nor be proven with scientific methods, neither can the human mind fully comprehend humanity using scientific reasoning. We may conceive the newest technology and invent robots that are symbols of our technological advancement, but we can never fully comprehend the gift of humanity and the human mind.

Humanity is the unique gift God has given to mankind, and this elevates us to a position of superiority over other creations. It is what distinguishes us from other living creatures. We feel and we think for ourselves, and with our reasoning, we decide what's good and what's not and then act accordingly. Humanity is the greatest gift ever given to mankind.

But as with all gifts, just as it can be given to us, in the same way, we can also lose it, either by our own account, or as a result of circumstances. It is time we check ourselves and see what have we been doing with this precious gift from up above. News of wars, bombings and suicide attacks have been adding colours to the newspapers. All these may seem far-fetched to people like you and I who are living in a supposingly peaceful country. However, we can certainly identify with the news of the toddler being killed and her body dumped in several places, the 12-year-old who brutally murdered his tuition teacher's young daughter and the parents who killed their own baby. Where is humanity? Sure sounds to me that we are gradually turning into emotionless beings, just like the beasts that consume their own young. How scary!

Maybe it is time we check and see what have we done to our gift of humanity. Have we chucked it in the closet and have not been using it for quite some time? Or even worse, have we forgotten where we have left it and can't seem to find it now that we need it? Cling on to the gift of humanity as it is the most precious gift to mankind that has made us who we are today. We would have been just like any other creature in the animal kingdom if not for this priceless gift.

"The Forgotten" ended with a scene that I really cherish. In a final attempt to make his experiment a success- that is for the woman to forget about her child- the alien forced his way into the mother's mind to rob her of memories of her son. He took from her the memory of when she first saw her son- in the operation theater where she gave birth to him and for the first time, looked into his face. He thought by erasing her first glimpse of her son, it will erase subsequent memories of him, but to his surprise, a mother's memory of her child does not begin in the labour room; it began when she first conceived a child, when it was a part of her in her being.