Living in denial
Until just before the pandemic, we humans were busy exploiting Mother Nature. It seemed as if we had lost our way and were knowingly moving in the wrong direction. There were some people who wanted to guide us in the right path but we ignored them and moved closer to our own destruction inch by inch. Today, the pandemic has dominated entire human race and even the most powerful and resourceful countries have given up. Even after all this, we are evading a big question and let me be brave enough to ask you this; Is the pandemic a consequence of our own actions?
Three months ago, no one would have spent a second to think of an answer and you would have simply scrolled down my article without even looking at it. But today, as we face the deadliest few months of our lives, I want you to retrospect and face the bitter truth. Before writing this, I myself was left lamenting on what we have done to this beautiful planet. We have made homes for ourselves only to leave thousands of other species homeless. We have set up indutries for ourselves only to leave the air and water polluted. We have moulded nature as per our needs, only to disrupt its balance further.
Now you might be thinking what any of this has got to do with Corona. You might say, “Corona outbreak is a natural disaster and one can do absolutely nothing about it.” However, if we had been cautious enough, from the very beginning, it wouldn’t have happened. Yes, you heard it right, thousands of people wouldn’t have died, millions of lives wouldn’t have been affected, biggest economies wouldn’t have succumbed. But the truth is, all this has happened and we are still pondering over the fact whether this is a result of some bigger conspiracy by some powerful country. No! It isn’t . For once, question yourself. Have we not played a part to bring the world where it is today? Yes we have, unfortunately. And what is even more unfortunate is that even now, we haven’t realised it. Nature is not stoic. It is bound to give back what we have given it at some point in time. The virus needs an environment to develop, it needs suitable conditions to evolve. And when I think of it now, I feel ashamed to say that we are the ones who have left certain holes for the virus to live in. Look at wet markets for example, we have come to a point where we are eating everything that walks, flies or swims. But we have not yet realised that we aren’t just killing the animals, but we are killing ourselves too. By polluting the air and water, we are harming ourselves. And now when we have tormented the nature to its limit, corona is nature’s return gift to us!
You may think that I have made some abstruse points and my conclusions are purely based on assumptions. Well, that’s up to you how you take it. But I have just one request to make. Be gentle to Mother Nature. ‘She’ has given us everything except the right to destroy it. Amid lockdown, animals have witnessed a newly found freedom. They are freely moving around in cities and towns as we are locked up in our homes. This proves that just because of human interference, they were bound by the virtual fences of dense forests. Everyone on this planet has the right to use its resources but man has claimed the largest chunk leaving other species in the lurch. The image below speaks a lot. This is an image from South Africa’s Kruger National Park wherein a pride of lions is resting on a road which in general would be crowded with tourists.
This lockdown has also helped in natural cleansing of air and water. Most polluted cities of the world have shown drastic improvement. Just in a span of these few weeks, we have witnessed a completely new world where one can breathe in fresh air and hear the melodious chirping of birds. Noise pollution has also gone down significantly. This lockdown has undoubtedly been tough for us and I feel pained to see people dying all around the globe. But through this pandemic, nature wants to teach us a lesson. It wants to teach us that we can not control it. But we should be thankful, that after cleaning itself, nature is giving us a new world to live in. A few months from now, we will step into it. Remember, it may be our last chance. Maybe next time, no one will be spared. I request my readers to look at the image below and decide which world do they want for themselves. Do they want to live in denial as before, or they want to amend the world for better!
