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I read The Hunger Games trilogy back in December. Anyone who knows me knows that when I like something I become somewhat obsessed with it, and this holds true for this stirring book series. I’m going to focus on the first book entitled The Hunger Games, which as you can see names the trilogy and happens to be my favorite of the three.

Short background synopsis: In post-apocalyptic North America, the Capitol controls the 12 Districts of Panem. Each year, two children from each district between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen, one boy and one girl, to be thrown into an arena to fight to the death. Only one can survive. It’s called the Hunger Games.

This book has been turned into a movie and will be released soon, which has me super pumped. But I’m not writing this post to talk about the book or movie, and I’m not going to try and convince you to read or watch either (I’d rather do that face to face). I’m writing this because the plot of this book has raised a question of interest to me and probably to others as well. It’s a question that makes you think about us as human beings. The answer to the question can either be “yes,” with an explanation, or “no,” with an “I hope not”. I hope you saw the difference there. Yes…explanation. No…um well. This honestly doesn’t make me as nervous as I should be because I lost faith in mankind long ago. But nevertheless, I am intrigued by what we may or may not allow to happen and only time will truly tell.

Here is the question that I know you’ve been waiting for: Do you think we would ever do that? Throw children in an arena and make them kill each other for our own entertainment?

I believe that if our kind survives the next few decades, a suggestion such as this will be brought forth one day. I don’t know when, where, or why, but I feel it is inevitable. What will the people around the table say or think about this suggestion? Will they become outraged and shun the speaker? Will they weigh it based on the current circumstances? Or will they just agree, seeing no other way? You may believe that something so horrific could never happen. You may think that we are more civilized than this or that we have a better foundation of morality and integrity. And you may be right to a certain extent, but believe me when I say, we’re not far off from this brutal world.

I don’t watch a lot of reality TV, but I see and hear enough to know why we watch these ridiculous shows. Real Housewives, Jersey Shore, Intervention, Teen Mom, Hoarders, even Judge Judy. Entertainment has taken on a whole new meaning. We watch this crap to watch others suffer; to see how stupid he will act this week; how much she will struggle; to see who will fight who, or what so-and-so is saying behind whoever’s back; to see this person yell, scream, bite, cry, faint, or maybe even bleed. It’s all just one step closer to a real Hunger Games.

And I don’t know why we do it. I’ll even admit I only watch House because I’m jealous he can treat people like crap and almost always get away with it. But it just goes back further than we realize. It’s the reason people loved the gladiator games and cheered on as they were slaughtered. It’s why people showed up in droves at hangings and beheadings, and participated in stonings. And it’s the reason that if there were two men trying to kill each other in the street today, we’d video it and put it on YouTube, thinking it was the coolest thing in the world and how many hits it would get.

It just comes with being human. It’s not a pride thing (yet). It’s shameful and distasteful and seriously puts me in a state of depression because I feel powerless against a force so strong. And it saddens me even more to say I have no optimistic parting for you. No “keep hope alive” or “we’d never let this happen because we’re ‘truly good at heart’.” I’m no Anne Frank. She may have believed in the good of mankind but I don’t, and look at what happened to her. All I can do is leave you with your thoughts and pray for the future. Maybe if enough people do that, think and pray, we can shift the odds in our favor…maybe.