Self-Appointed Gods

The gall of the mortal ego is its most dramatic flaw

- Syeda Afshana

Somewhere between a press conference and a threat, a new breed of human emerges. Puffing up their chests, flipping between menace and messiah, they speak as if they invented time:

We will end him.

We decide who stays, who goes.

We have control over the skies.

We won't kill him. Not yet.

Not yet? Really? Welcome to the age of the Self-Appointed Custodians of Life and Death. These are the modern Dummy Gods who come in many forms. Part politician, part performer, part delusional. They walk among us. Believing that their microphones are thrones and their social media reach is divine decree. Dressed in classy clothes and poorer judgment, they behave as though the breath others inhale belongs to them. They think that pain can be legislated, that fear is fuel and that silence is submission.

Let us speak plainly. They are not God. They are not even Google! They can’t track every breath, every whisper, every upheaval. They are a speck; not the sky.

The gall of the mortal ego is its most dramatic flaw. Give someone a fleet, a hashtag fan army, or an office chamber with deluxe furnishing, and suddenly they believe they are crowned heads who can press the buttons of destiny itself.