It is difficult to restrain oneself from saying things that please one's listeners

With the recent events such as the stampede at the Ultra or the outrage over some caricatures, I now wonder why people tend to find ways of putting the blame to others. Why is it that man relish in finding faults in his neighbours? Is it because pointing the finger at another makes one thinks that he isn't capable of committing such fault or blunder?

People behind the publications of the offending cartoons were hiding behind the mantra "freedom of the press"; it could be because they simply can't accept the fact that they were capable of religious bigotry. Those who were enraged by the caricatures were slamming that the western worlds are simply bigots; maybe they should stop and think for a while that they themselves had been dogmatic and alienated themselves from the world causing the distance between cultures wider and wider.

The unfortunate souls involved in that stampede that fateful Saturday at the Ultra are likewise, of course, passing the culpability to different sets of people: the event organizers, the show's producers, the show's host and co-entertainers, the stadium's security personnel, the government, poverty, and even the sloping pathway, which leads to the auditorium. Yes, all of them might have contributed to that regrettable day - even that damn steep pathway - but I challenge those who died (bless their soul), those have been injured and the lucky others in that crowd: to look at themselves and put that heavy burden in their hearts. They must accept the fact that their "little" shoving and pushing had cost seventy lives. No amount of organization or security could have prevented a mob inflamed by greed.

If I'm being a pompous ass, I'm sorry. I've just had enough of all the finger-pointing and of slinging-each-other-with-mud. It is time, for once, to stand-up and admit one's fault.

Stop blaming other people and you will fee what an alcoholic feels when he stops drinking, or what a smoker feels when he stops smoking. You will feel that you have relieved your soul. - Leo Tolstoy