The Watchmen.

Right now is one of those times when i'm pissed at the whole world,for reasons that are not important. But this overwhelming sense of frustration is there,and i guess that time is the best healer for periods like these.

Anyways,I had read Alan Moore's graphic novel-The Watchmen. And it is striking. Not as much as for the intense characterizations of their leads-these are real people,man-than for the underlying theme i.e one of Spock's most Zen like statements-the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. If you haven't read it yet,then its best that you avoid the following paragraph.

One of the Watchme-Adrian Veidt(if that is the spelling),actually organizes this elaborate plot that culminates in a part of NYC being blown to bits by an extraterrestrial being that is suddenly teleported there.As a result of which the impending nuclear war with Russia is avoided,all hostilities are forgotten,and a new age of friendship and empathy dawns on man,at the expense of a few million lives.

On the surface,it might seem that what Veidt has done is horrendous,but on closer inspection,he actually did change the world.He ended the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction,and the annihilation of the world at the same time. But there were casualties,lots of them.

I suppose it was one of those presidential style decisions that has to be taken by world leaders. My father once told me that Heads of Government are presented with problems that have an equal number of pros and cons. And which way to take it is left in their hands. Which is why that its a bitch to be the President of the USA,or any other country. They have blood on their hands,but if it means more lives saved than expended,the decision is one worth taking.Similar to the manner in which Harry S.Truman dropped those 2 bombs to result in the ending of the 2nd World War.In the end lots more lives were spared.I am not supporting what he did,and I'm not condoning it either. But I am saying that sometimes these are hard decisions that everybody will have to take at some point or the other in their lives,although of not such a dramatic scale.

And Rorscach rules!!The philosophy he practices has been described as "Moral Absolutism" by Wikipedia.Its a nice description. Although I would like to live like how he did,I am realizing,by bitter experience,that it may not the right way to live. Because in the end you'll end up being defeated by a power higher than you,in much the same manner that Rorscach was killed by Dr.Manhattan. I don't like the way it turned out with Rorscach,but somewhere in the back of my head was the phrase "Was expected". Which is why characters like Rorscach and Howard Roark exist only in books and not in the real world....they don't live long enough for their story to be told!! Sad,but true.