If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it is hopefully that man proposes and God disposes! As a race, we had conquered all the horizons from the deepest oceans to outer space, and we had started feeling almost invincible. That is until a tiny microorganism chose to become nature’s messenger and remind us that despite all our accomplishments, we are after all human.
We often underestimate the potential that being human brings, we have creation’s vote for being at the top of the pyramid of evolution. And yet we must balance our vulnerabilities on the inside, with the immense strength we have banked on the outside. Humanity has figured out how to make gold (read silicon) from sand, but most of us are yet to discover breathing in a certain way can completely transform the way we feel. We have known this for thousands of years, but perhaps somewhere in our quest to conquer the heavens, we seem to have forsaken the wisdom of the past.
Everything we have created, own or dream of is thanks to the planet. Perhaps what might drive the point home is that the device that you’re reading this on is also a loan from the earth, where sand that is used to make silicon, has now become the most sought after raw material after water. And yet we choose to think of ourselves, and even our possessions as eternal, shying away from the idea of mortality.
Man is a social animal, and when crises come calling, we only have each other to turn to. The pandemic has underlined how connected humanity is today, where the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings in one corner of the earth can actually brew up a storm in the other corner! It is vital that we understand the importance of sustainability in such a delicate ecosystem, for human greed knows no bounds, and before long, we would have stripped the planet bare, leaving a vast wasteland for our future generations.
There is a divine intelligence of course, and that, I’m sure, must be watching in amazement, how this free-will experiment is going. On paper, free-will seems like a great idea, definitely more marketable than instinct, but what does it do for the planet ? The earth has been warming up twice as fast for the past 40 years, with 2020 being the warmest year since records began.
We are on the precipice of catastrophe, and we only have a slim opportunity to realise that being in a no-strings-attached relationship with the planet is not an option. And we only have a fighting chance to survive, if we embrace our mortality, and start living that much needed change today!
