Mad Nation

‘If a person genuinely feels angry and kills his neighbor out of that, is it wrong?’ Swami Sukarman Gill asked his followers. ‘No’ he replied himself. ‘At least he was true to him and his feelings’.

He was known for his alternative thinking among the common public. He was put into jail a couple of times for his controversial preaching till the new president Barth Garner lifted all the laws that made the individual expression of feelings an offense. Barth Garner had a particularly strict childhood where her dad censored her from speaking some words and having some ideas. Barth believed restricting thoughts is a restriction over ideas and natural human evolution. She thought thoughts and words should not be deemed a crime.

‘How can I develop discipline in myself so that I can resist myself from constantly having desires over pleasures?’ one man asked. Sukarman answered ‘Seeking pleasure is a basic need of this flawed human form *laughs softly* like urination. You don't have to resist them.’ Swami said. ‘But we can not urinate everywhere, right? We resist that urge during travel and other conditions. Right now if you have the urge, you have to wait till this gathering ends, right?’ the man asked. ‘I don't have to’ Swami said. ‘How can you urinate on the stage?’ The man wondered. ‘Should I?’. After a few moments, the entire auditorium erupted in claps. ‘But, it's smelly right?’ the man persisted on the topic. ‘Smell is subjective’ Swami answered.

People saw Swami Sukarman as a new light of hope for new living. Sukarman had nothing to fake. He is a genuine guy who believed in the cycle of life, survival, natural selection and let it go attitude. Importantly he is a very good speaker. The ideas themselves are obviously nothing if the speaker is not convincingly brilliant. Sukarman is kind of a person who will make you think ‘Washing vessels is the most pleasurable thing’ if he chooses to talk about vessel washing for 30 minutes. He can make you cry thinking about the joy of vessel wash.

Not everyone is a follower though. People all over the country got inspired by each other and started tweeting, posting things they genuinely feel wrong about society. One blogger activist wrote an article about how she found wisdom during the days of abduction and being sex labor after that. She expressed gratitude for her misfunctioning family and cherished the Stockholm syndrome moments with the criminals. She also expressed the problems of abduction sandwiched into the neatly written article.

Questions and realizations started pouring in. ‘Should a mother love her children?’ — ‘Should all mothers love their children? Is it not a choice?’ — ‘Should a mother sacrifice all her time and life taking care of infants and bringing them up?’. Things made sense to many. These new thoughts caught up with the common public one after another. People protested against the government for not having infant care centers and forcing the parents to do the job instead. People who binge-watched on the topic ‘Why should there be a family?’ — ‘What humanity has lost by being stuck in the family’ for too long came to the streets to abolish the marriage and the resulting family system.

‘Crime rates are increasing. People are getting influenced by unwanted thoughts. Do you think we need laws to some extent to restrict these speeches?’ Barth was asked by an interviewer. ‘Yes, I can see the people are excited. Last Friday one of our ministers *looks at the minister and laughs* tweeted calling me a fat pig. People are excited. If we give the kids roomful of delicious cakes every day, they will play with them, make the place a complete mess and sleep on them. But they will get bored with the exploitation very soon and settle down with productive things.’ Barth answered.

Swami Sukarman became a topic of debate again when he supported a mass shooting. He said ‘At least the man let his agony out. How many of you are holding your emotions back with fake smiles living fake lives?’. That made sense for most of his followers and people suffering from depression and anxiety. ‘When you fill your heart full of hatred it gets corrupt. You become a corrupt man. Find the means and let it go.’

It became clear that absolute freedom of speech in this new age made a significant difference in their lives. Some challenged the advantages of being dead versus being alive. Suicides were glorified and increased. Many unspeakable deeper questions were asked. Deeper debates were done. Some people resisted all the bombardments and just wanted to go back to their restricted lives as they had earlier. But Barth Garner was surrounded by people who kept insisting on the good things that happened by her freedom of speech initiative.

Swami Sukarman was asked, ‘Is it wrong that I want to kill my neighbor but I don't like to go to jail’. He answered, ‘It is not about being right or wrong. If a man genuinely wants to escape and believes he is capable of doing that, he will eventually escape. That is how it is, isn’t it? When a lion kills nobody complains’. The crowd cheered.

‘I have the means to create and distribute a deadly pathogen. And I hate this world as much as everyone else *crowd laughs* Should I feel guilty for doing that?’. Swami Sukarman laughed at the question. ‘That was a deadly question *Crowd laughs uncontrollably and settles in curiosity*. Let me put it this way. If a bat comes in contact with a human, stresses out, releases a natural deadly pathogen to that human and it spreads throughout the globe. should the bat feel guilty?’. The man said, ‘No’. Swami added, ‘The bat was, in fact, the victim.’ That made absolute sense to the crowd. They got the clarity in their faces. He went on, ‘It is a choice. The innocent bat can choose to feel guilty. It can choose not to feel guilty. Either way, the bat is indeed correct.’

While asked about all these potentially crime-invoking speeches going on around the nation, Barth Garner answered. ‘Swami Sukarman and the other new thought leaders if found doing a criminal activity as labeled by the institutional law will be jailed. We are not going to make thoughts a crime until this chair belongs to my pair of Gluteus maximus. We are not living in the 1984 world. People of this nation are wise enough to take in what makes sense to them and leave out what they feel incorrect.’

Sane people protested these ideas. But more and more people started getting attracted to these preachings. The latest gathering of Swami Sukarman was held on a football ground with tens of thousands of people.

‘I am not feeling happy. I don't remember when I smiled last. Do you have a simple way so that I can get some happiness in life?’ a man asked Swami Sukarman. ‘What makes you happy?’ swami asked. ‘Well, how can I say that’. ‘Using the words’ Swami helped him. The whole audience erupted in laughter. The man continued. ‘If I tie my neighbor in my basement — keep him alive by the minimum required amount of food — medication and make him feel pain every day, That can make me happy I think’. The crowd gasped a little. Swami instantly said, ‘You can do it if you believe you can bear the pain yourself and smile each and every moment of it. Then you are not doing any injustice to that man.’ That made sense to the crowd. The crowd gave an agreeing sound. ‘Yes. I can enjoy all those times.’ The man said. ‘There you go’

The man kidnapped Swami Sukarman that night and did what made him happy. Swami Sukarman smiled all those 184 days he spent in that man’s basement until the Swami’s followers found the place and rescued him. Swami was unrecognizable and was missing an eye. In the court when asked, Swami answered, ‘I stayed with this man willingly and enjoyed every bit of time I shared with him’. The kidnapper hugged Swami Sukarman and cried. The judges and the lawyers too hugged him and cried. The crowd cried. Swami Sukarman became irresistible. The few remaining sane people started realizing maybe Swami Sukarman is right about his view about life.

‘What is the value of one life?’ one man asked to the one-eyed Sukarman. ‘Interesting question. That can be measured by how long the people around him resist smiling after his death. Mostly a day or two. If I die today would you people resist laughing at my ghost meme you see online? *crowd says no..* Say yes. do not insult me *laughs politely* You don't have to resist. Let it go.’. That was the last gathering as his health worsened drastically after that. When he died, no one cared as he wished.

The new normal became weirder every day. There was no such thing as a taboo. For instance, Cannibalism became a funny subject featured from comedy shows to a serious proposal to end world hunger. Barth Garner remained silent from acknowledging any new-thought leaders until she agreed that She is a fan of Swami Sukarman’s way of life and ideologies. She promised She will create a legacy for Sukarman that stands for the ages to come. She mandated his preachings in the schools. ‘Let it go’ the last words of Sukarman became the mantra of the nation. People were taught to smile before they die. The people who resisted anger in their minds were treated as mentally incapable.

Barth nuked a nation for not levying the taxes on the products imported from her nation. In the next thirty minutes, She nuked another nation over a border dispute. She nuked third time on a nation that asked her to stop the madness. Barth Garner was assassinated by the cooperative military action by the world nations the same evening.

The new president was elected. Laws about the freedom of expression were tightened. People suffered the iron arms. The teachings were passed on secretly. People started having small get-togethers to practice ‘let it go’ in their personal space. It slowly became a political movement. People did everything under the law to promote the ideology of Sukarman.

In the very next election, the iron-arm party was overthrown by the ‘let it go’ movement. The new president walked up to the mic for his first address.

‘Can a book be harmful to a society?’

The End.

‘No’ He replied himself.