On Demigods & Demons

By K Lakshanya

"All the world’s a stage, and all men and women, merely players.”

What then, makes one man a saint, and what makes another, a brute?

Why do we loathe the one, but worship the ground on which another sets foot?

Who dictates our definitions of ‘bad’ and ‘good’, of ‘wrong’ and ‘right’?

Is the message that of the tale told – or of the person who does recite?

Could the deity be the devil, if perspectives were to be flipped?

The dilemma then arises – is such a deity indeed worth being worshipped?

Do one’s deeds - or intentions - really sculpt a hero or villain?

Or, is this power wielded simply by the ‘grey cells’ of spectating men and women?

Why is the hero's every deed a 'crusade for justice', and the villain's, the gateway to war?

When each but stands true to a cause he cherishes, why do we uphold one - while the other,

we abhor?

The fine line that separates the 'good' from the 'evil' - with which yardstick must it be

chalked?

Are not the real wrongdoers WE, who judge before we have stepped into one's shoes and

walked?

It would be grossly unjust to say, perfection and righteousness prevail in all of humankind.

But perhaps, the glasses of empathy could correct several flaws our short-sighted eyes

otherwise find?

What makes people demigods or demons, is perhaps not always what they do

Sometimes, behind another's eyeballs may lie, an entirely different view.

May the tale be rewritten by a kinder, more empathetic, less judgmental pen;

May the world have fewer heroes and villains - and more happy men and women!

By K Lakshanya