Eternal Hangover-Black and White Truth

 Eternal Hangover-Black and White Truth

A swan gazed at a crow and sighed with admiration. “Wow, you are so beautiful. Your shiny black feathers are truly eye-catching.”

The crow tilted its head, pleased. “And you, dear swan, are equally lovely. Your milky white colour brings peace to the eyes.”

A young man who had been listening from the riverbank frowned. He stepped closer and said to the swan, “How can you call black beautiful? In our human world, black is rarely seen that way.”

The swan blinked. “Is black not beautiful?”

“Not really,” the young man replied. “Black, by itself, is often considered unlucky, dark, or inferior among humans.”

The crow chuckled softly. “Then let me remind you of a saying your own kind invented: ‘Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.’”

The young man nodded. “That’s true, but still, people discriminate. They argue over what beauty means. Many won’t accept a definition different from their own.”

The swan sighed. “You humans are running a race that has no finish line. You like only those who like what you like. You agree only with those who agree with you. You have turned life into a mirror that must always reflect your own face.”

The crow added, “We fauna live differently. We hunt for need, not greed. The swan said, A fish lives beneath the pond. I swim in. The crow flies above us. Each of us is unique. We simply co-exist.”

The swan continued, her voice growing heavier. “But you humans… You earn beyond need, kill for pride, crush others to prove you might. You call babies ‘enemy kids’ and murder them. You draw lines on the earth and call them borders. You wage wars, poison the land, and sell medicine to manage the diseases you created. The list is endless. I wonder—where did you learn all this evil? And then you go to temples, churches, and mosques to wash your sins.”

The crow nodded. “Yes. You even feed birds and cows to remember your dead parents, but when they were alive, you sent them to old age homes.”

“Crazy creatures,” the swan murmured.

“I feel fortunate,” said the crow, “that I was not born a human.”

“True, brother,” the swan agreed. “Sometimes watching humans is toxic. The way they behave is disgusting.”

The young man’s face reddened. “I could kill you both right now.”

The swan smiled calmly. “Don’t behave like your politicians. They cannot debate, so they use power to silence dissent.”

The young man paused. “Not every human is like that.”

“You are right,” the crow said. “Not every human is like that. And not every innocent you kill in war is a terrorist.”

The swan turned away. “Brother, there’s no point talking to a human who wears his ears as spectacle holders—not to listen, but to frame his own view.”

The crow laughed. “Good point. They are blind and deaf to the truth. Their own inventions—artificial intelligence, robots—will one day finish what they started.”

Then the crow looked at the sky. “Time to return to the nest. My family is waiting.”

“And I will settle as the sun sets,” the swan said. “We animals rest with nature. You humans party all night, wake up with hangovers, and carry the eternal hangover of pride and ego.”

The crow added, “Circadian rhythm will live as long as we fauna exist. You humans abandoned yours long ago. Now you live on pills just to balance your health.”

The young man stood silent for a moment. Then he said quietly, “You have completely condemned the human race. I don’t know if you are right or wrong… but you have made me think.”

Note: What is Circadian Rhythm?

Circadian rhythm is the natural 24-hour internal clock in living beings (humans, animals, plants, and even microbes). It regulates sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, body temperature, digestion, and other vital processes.

• In a healthy state, this rhythm follows the sun: wakefulness during daylight, rest at night.
• In modern human life, artificial light, night shifts, screens, and irregular schedules disrupt this rhythm. This leads to insomnia, fatigue, depression, obesity, and chronic diseases.
• Many people now rely on melatonin pills, sleeping tablets, or caffeine to override or fix their broken biological clock—just as the crow sarcastically notes in the story.

The crow’s final comment means: Wild animals still live by nature’s clock. Humans broke their own and now need medicine to survive their own lifestyle.

M.L. Narendra Kumar