The Afterlife Passport Office —死後のパスポートセンタ—

Life isn’t fair.  So why do we imagine that, if there is life after death, it will be any fairer? 

I have been reading a book about a Sri Lankan photo-journalist who wakes up after death to find himself in a chaotic waiting room.  Lots of confused dead people wait in line to be processed by a busy and tetchy staff.  The afterlife seems to begin with a visit to something like a disorganised passport office. 

Here are a few interesting quotes from Shehun Karunatilaka’s novel, “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida”. 

1

“Evil is not what we should fear. Creatures with power acting in their own interest: that is what should make us shudder.” 

A hungry lion is not evil if it eats you.  Perhaps an oppressive government is not run by evil people either; it is run by people who are too powerful, and who gain some benefit from the oppression.

 

2

“Mirrors lie as much as memories do.” 

People change the image that they see to fit the picture that they already have in their mind.

 

3

“All stories are recycled and all stories are unfair. Many get luck, and many get misery. Many are born to homes with books, many grow up in the swamps of war. In the end, all becomes dust. All stories conclude with a fade to black.” 

In a sense, everybody gets the same thing from life.  They live for a while, and then they die.  Everything else is just a minor detail.

 

4

“How else to explain the world’s madness? If there’s a heavenly father, he must be like your father: absent, lazy and possibly evil.” 

I have had a good father, but I take the point.  Not all parents give their children the best chance in life.  Are we confident that God will give us the best chance in death?

 

Vocabulary:

tetchy – irritable and bad tempered

[eg., He is always tetchy in the morning until he has drunk a cup of coffee.]

to shudder – to tremble violently, especially because of fear or horror

[When I realised what the killer had done, I shuddered with horror.]

oppressive – inflicting harsh and authoritarian treatment

[That country’s oppressive government uses the police to harshly crack down on protests.]