Fair warning, dear reader, for this will be a story of quite some length; but stick with it and you will learn something, for this is a story relevant to mankind for now and all time.
ఏ జాతి చూసినా ఏమున్నది గర్వకారణం,
నర జాతి సమస్తం పరపీడన పరాయణత్వం
What is history, but a tale of exploiting one's neighbor?
నర జాతి సమస్తం పరపీడన పరాయణత్వం
What is history, but a tale of exploiting one's neighbor?
These words by a Telugu poet, the legendary Srirangam Srinisavasarao, capture human nature better than any other set of adjectives. All the stories we hear of valor, take root in one trying to unjustly claim someone else's right. Even works of fiction speak of one man's avarice for another's right. So today I wish to address the assault of mankind on the world and his neighbor's.
Right now, the world is battling the Covid-19 pandemic. And in doing so, we have confined ourselves to our homes, leaving the world to the grace of the elements and mother nature. And as a friend of mine quoted, thanks to this lock-down worldwide, the world has gotten its first breather since the industrial age. And we've seen what this 'recess' can do. Dolphins returning to marinas, animals gracing civilization, clear skies like never before and the pollution levels at an all-time low in almost half a century.
We can see how countries are working together and cooperating to beat this epidemic on both humanitarian and medical levels. Let us now ask ourselves - When has humanity last stood united against anything? In the past century alone we have waged wars that scarred the earth till the end of time and experienced ethnic purges at a biblical scale. A few nationalities suffered irreversible damage while others languished in the wealth borne of that depravity. Humanity has faced worse catastrophes before, but never on a global scale. Who knew all we needed to band together was to experience the pain of being wiped out ourselves and not some country in some corner of the world?
So, let me ask you - What does all this mean? I am not going to give you an expose on the spread of Covid or the extent of the fight against it. There are enough of those already. I will, however, posit what humanity could stand to gain from this 'crusade' against Covid.
A vast majority of the world has been confined to the indoors for quite some time now, yes? A month or more, in the least. This is a whole month of recess from the lives we've been striving to improve since the time of cavemen. All the scuttling about, all the unbridled agitation to reach some place, all that we have strived to 'perfect' - The outside, in one word, is now inaccessible due to an organism we can't even see. The very same organism that has grown up in the womb of mother earth like all of Homo Sapiens. All the money, all the power, all the superiority, all the nuclear weapons in the world and we are brought to our knees by a simple virus.
Do ask yourself, what does this mean? Interpret it however you will and must, but I interpret it thus:
Mankind has been blind and foolish all this while. The so called 'progress' has only served to blind us to what truly matters. And that is compassion, empathy and unity. Nothing more. That. Is. All. Let me elaborate:
Going back to the beginning of this post, if we look at history, all we can see is bloodshed. In the name of religion, caste, greed, power, lust, even. None of those wars have actually helped humanity in any manner except serve as an example of what we should not aspire to be. Of course, the effectiveness of that withholding, the 'lesson' is what they represent.
A friend of mine rightly said 'these few months is the first break we've given Mother Earth since the advent of the industrial age'. I dare you to come up with a more positive description of the current circumstances. Man's core is greed. It's not sleep, feed and procreate anymore. The man of today is defined by his avarice. Gone are the days where one is happy with what he has earned or been given. Gone are the days of simple joy in one's neighbor's success. Gone are the days of exemplars of human virtue. Today, we can list more examples of those who represent the scum of human society rather than those who represent a better tomorrow. And what is worse, many of such people are in positions of power, with the authority to decide the lives of millions. Ask yourself, what has all this come to?
Today, everyone is confined to their basest rights, those of food and shelter. No more going out to flaunt what you believe makes you God's only gift to mankind. The only thing we're left with, is each other and how we take care of each other in this crisis. We hear stories of doctors working for days at end; activists braving lynching to help the infected. Of public servants braving assaults to maintain order. But, as all things, we will most conveniently forget the calamity once it passes and go back to living as degenerates who exploit one another if they know they can get away with it.
Tell me, how many accounts have you seen of 'holy men' taking to the media to claim this disease is an act of god for retribution against mankind's way of life? I mean, I thought they were 'messengers of God'. Do we not call God our father? No matter the religion, don't they all say we're descended of the creator himself? What sort of a father tortures his kids so? No! This is not an act of God. This is humanity's greed come to collect its due. This is an opportunity for us to learn that when the dust settles, all our hubris and ego are worth less than the trash humans so conveniently claim those who disagree with them to be.
Right now, out there, imagine there's a country that decides to flout all the rules of the lockdown and ends up accelerating the spread of the disease. Can you be sure that behavior won't cause a chain reaction, ending in a global catastrophe? The only reason society has not delved into chaos, is because we still have some faint, lingering light of compassion, empathy and unity for our fellow man that is telling us to not totally denounce morality and common sense.
I will say it loud and clear: Once humanity survives Covid, we all have to change. Remember the spirit with which we fought the infection off. Remember the heroes whom you did not expect to rise. Remember the fools who serve as gleaming examples of 'what and how not to be', most of all. And use that to treat your fellow man better, instead of lusting over what is not rightfully yours. Use that to appreciate that which nature has to offer, instead of relentlessly assaulting her for more. Use this experience to right the injustices done. Use this experience to usher in a new age of peace and prosperity for mankind, in place of the one we've had so far, filled with hate, fear and violence.
The earth is our home and all mankind are our family. Neither is above the rest so don't ever treate someone in a way you yourself wouldn't want to be treated.
Remember, oh you, who's made it to the end of what probably sounds like a lecture from someone on a moral high horse, that your life is only the sum of how you're remembered and what for. So leave a legacy of compassion, empathy and unity, not one of exploitation, violence and greed.
A vast majority of the world has been confined to the indoors for quite some time now, yes? A month or more, in the least. This is a whole month of recess from the lives we've been striving to improve since the time of cavemen. All the scuttling about, all the unbridled agitation to reach some place, all that we have strived to 'perfect' - The outside, in one word, is now inaccessible due to an organism we can't even see. The very same organism that has grown up in the womb of mother earth like all of Homo Sapiens. All the money, all the power, all the superiority, all the nuclear weapons in the world and we are brought to our knees by a simple virus.
Do ask yourself, what does this mean? Interpret it however you will and must, but I interpret it thus:
Mankind has been blind and foolish all this while. The so called 'progress' has only served to blind us to what truly matters. And that is compassion, empathy and unity. Nothing more. That. Is. All. Let me elaborate:
Going back to the beginning of this post, if we look at history, all we can see is bloodshed. In the name of religion, caste, greed, power, lust, even. None of those wars have actually helped humanity in any manner except serve as an example of what we should not aspire to be. Of course, the effectiveness of that withholding, the 'lesson' is what they represent.
A friend of mine rightly said 'these few months is the first break we've given Mother Earth since the advent of the industrial age'. I dare you to come up with a more positive description of the current circumstances. Man's core is greed. It's not sleep, feed and procreate anymore. The man of today is defined by his avarice. Gone are the days where one is happy with what he has earned or been given. Gone are the days of simple joy in one's neighbor's success. Gone are the days of exemplars of human virtue. Today, we can list more examples of those who represent the scum of human society rather than those who represent a better tomorrow. And what is worse, many of such people are in positions of power, with the authority to decide the lives of millions. Ask yourself, what has all this come to?
Today, everyone is confined to their basest rights, those of food and shelter. No more going out to flaunt what you believe makes you God's only gift to mankind. The only thing we're left with, is each other and how we take care of each other in this crisis. We hear stories of doctors working for days at end; activists braving lynching to help the infected. Of public servants braving assaults to maintain order. But, as all things, we will most conveniently forget the calamity once it passes and go back to living as degenerates who exploit one another if they know they can get away with it.
Tell me, how many accounts have you seen of 'holy men' taking to the media to claim this disease is an act of god for retribution against mankind's way of life? I mean, I thought they were 'messengers of God'. Do we not call God our father? No matter the religion, don't they all say we're descended of the creator himself? What sort of a father tortures his kids so? No! This is not an act of God. This is humanity's greed come to collect its due. This is an opportunity for us to learn that when the dust settles, all our hubris and ego are worth less than the trash humans so conveniently claim those who disagree with them to be.
Right now, out there, imagine there's a country that decides to flout all the rules of the lockdown and ends up accelerating the spread of the disease. Can you be sure that behavior won't cause a chain reaction, ending in a global catastrophe? The only reason society has not delved into chaos, is because we still have some faint, lingering light of compassion, empathy and unity for our fellow man that is telling us to not totally denounce morality and common sense.
I will say it loud and clear: Once humanity survives Covid, we all have to change. Remember the spirit with which we fought the infection off. Remember the heroes whom you did not expect to rise. Remember the fools who serve as gleaming examples of 'what and how not to be', most of all. And use that to treat your fellow man better, instead of lusting over what is not rightfully yours. Use that to appreciate that which nature has to offer, instead of relentlessly assaulting her for more. Use this experience to right the injustices done. Use this experience to usher in a new age of peace and prosperity for mankind, in place of the one we've had so far, filled with hate, fear and violence.
The earth is our home and all mankind are our family. Neither is above the rest so don't ever treate someone in a way you yourself wouldn't want to be treated.
Remember, oh you, who's made it to the end of what probably sounds like a lecture from someone on a moral high horse, that your life is only the sum of how you're remembered and what for. So leave a legacy of compassion, empathy and unity, not one of exploitation, violence and greed.
"This too, shall pass"
Take a bow. Brilliant read.
ReplyDeleteThanks, dude!
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