Intelligent... are we?

I have finished reading the Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini has done some justice to the children of Afghanistan in this emotionally breathtaking novel of his. Afghanistan has a lot of children but very little childhood! And he has presented this view in the most simple words possible.. A rare quality found in writers..

But this post is not about 'The Kite Runner' or Khaled Hosseini or Afghanistan. Its about a conversation I had a couple of hours back which indeed triggered a series of conversations inside my head. I was discussing about how the entire country (Afghanistan) has been devastated because of the whims and fancies of few - Soviet/US army or Taliban, we would never know! The irony of our times is that we are so well informed about the world and yet, so much in oblivion - seeing things through the eyes of the media. Never knowing what might be true!

She made a casual comment - 'You know Shub, we never know! People in today's world are just too intelligent. We will never know what is the real power/person behind it and what the real motive is...' I couldn't follow the remaining part. A separate conversation has started in my head!

Intelligent.. are they? To me they appeared to be the most stupid people ever born in this world. So much so that I feel they were born as humans by mistake, they were supposed to be some animal.

Is taking away love from the world (for whatever real motive was) intelligent?
Is taking away children's childhood intelligent?

Sometimes, I feel the older we get, the more stupid we become, and we feel we are becoming wise! When we are young, we fight over things worth fighting for, things that last for eternity. We fight for our parents' love, we eat with our servant's children, we don't hesitate in showing our love to strangers, we smile, we laugh!

And then we grow up! We become wise. We start fighting for things which we ourselves know won't last for long - money, religion, what inch of land is my country...

Are we actually becoming intelligent or becoming more and more stupid in the garb of maturity and wisdom? Some questions have no answer but they need to be posed.. These questions make us human again! And I think thats what human race is lacking - people with humanity. Will this vicious cycle ever break? I have no answer. Period.