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Short Stories, Essays, Books All My Stuff

Last Train Home - By Rodrigo Monteiro

Was he walking through the park, when Luke heard a loud scream that seemed to be a cry for help. He rushed and tried to get to its source, as fast as he could, but it was helpless.

His heart was beating way to fast, so Luke stopped to gain air, to breath in and breath out, near a narrow passage. He took a glimpse of the dark background around him, dirty stairs that lead to nothing, garbage everywhere and there was not even a string of light.

From where he was, he could see a tough man, holding a knife and wearing a black mask. At first Luke could almost bet he was alone, whereas in fact he began to take notice of what was below the man.

On the floor, right behind the criminal, there was a woman, covered with blood. She was frightned as much as Luke was. Her hands were shaking as she tried to call help.

He didn’t know what to do, but he couldn’t just sit there and watch it, nor did he have time to think twice before acting. Luke reached his cellphone and called the 991, it was the first thing that come to his mind.

Fortunately a police car patrol was passing by. He walked out of there, and force it to stop. He grab their attention and took them to the scene. When they arrived the spot, strangely enough there was no man there, only the pale white woman.

Luke bent down on his knees, and tried to say some words to her. She could only whisper she was thankful of his arrival and that he was her saviour. But the bruises on her head, and the blood she had lost, made him feel that it did not really matter. He just hoped she would survive.

He headed to the station, where Luke took the 9:30 pm train home. As he leaned his head on the window he began to fall asleep. Instead of sweet dreams, he had dark nightmares. That odd crime had left scars on him, that only time could erase.

It was a not-confortable-at-all-ten-minutes-top spleep but it seemed like hours. Luke started to look through his shoulder. He felt quite unsafe and feared even his own shadow. He knew his life would not ever be the same.

Luke arrived his destination and took the bus to where he lived. At home his children and his wife Sarah were waiting him. Well, actually only Sarah, because his son and daughter fell asleep since he took more time than what he is used to.

He kissed his wife softly as he walked in, and grabbed his children, taking them to bed. Luke kissed their chicks and prayed with all his being not to happen something like he had seen not long before.

After the goodnight kiss, he headed to the window. Luke stared the stars and could see the white light comig from the full moon. He wished his beloved ones come to him every single night like the stars did. His eyes were heavy, so he sat on a chair near his children’s bed and stayed there the whole night, sleeping with one eye open.

Being Human - By Rodrigo Monteiro

Being human is much more than our physical form, but also the way we behave, our feelings and our emotions, that make us different from any other animal or artificial life.

To begin with there would be common knowledge that being human means having our unique body structure.

Many people live from appearance, so anyone a little different from them, are always misundertimated and misjudged.

Therefore people that have not the same body structure, like an arm, or a leg, are seen as disabled by our society, nonetheless I do not agree they are less humans than ourselves. The artificial lives shown on the film, the replicants, had a body just like ours, and were not humans.

Secondly having a brain, or more precisely being able to think, make us different from the rest.

Based on what we know from science, we are the only animal who actually possess a structure capable of thinking.

For example replicants had a mechanism that allowed them to think for their own.

Thirdly...

With...

Which may explain...

It would appear that since the replicants had a body similar to ours, and could actually think like us, could be called humans.

First of all a human before having a present, he had a past, from which he has memories and is connected with.

Previous research reports by the “entities of the film” show that they react to questions related to memories.

That was the case of Leon, one of the replicants, when questioned about his mother, shoot down the officer Holden.

Secondly human beings leave a mark, either if they want or not.

So when a human dies, his culture and his belongings stay.

Moreover, one should also bear in mind that, when replicants were retired, it was not faced with pain, but as it was the right way of things. And they wouldn’t leave any bounds with our world.

And finally, a question which needs to be dealt with is one concerning the feelings.

As a rational being we are, we have also the animal part. We cannot live without feelings, they are attatched to us, whether we like it or not.

Feelings like fear, love, anger are only connected with us.

As we can see from the film, the replicants didn’t know the meaning of fear. And just started to know what love was about, when they were taught.

Furthermore being human consists of having memories, leaving our contribute to the world and living surrounded by emotions.

In conclusion, being human is a major question for developed societies, not only our own society but also the one showed in the film, which face the rise of technology. Consequently being human concerns much more than our body and our soul. We’re starting to question us the differences between an artificial life and a human being. Even though it is similar to us, with its appearance, its way of thinking, it could never become one of us. It is noting but a machine, made from the scratch based on us, but without memories, and when dead, it doesn’t leave a mark.
 

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