Parasitical Tendencies.

“The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has ever tried to contact us.”

I hope we can excuse Calvin's grammar, but let us not ignore his thoughts. I am referring to Calvin of the Calvin and Hobbes fame.

If you are inclined to believe that I am going to talk about aliens, let me clarify that I am not.
There is another important message being conveyed by Bill Watterson through Calvin. We will discuss what it is, but before we get there, let us take a short detour.

Let me ask you a question. How many of you have visited a site of archeological and historical importance in India? Places like Hampi, Bellur and Halebiddu.

I like traveling occasionally. I have been to all these places. I feel elated when I first see the ubiquitous architectural beauty. But then, as I start exploring further, I notice that a lot has been pillaged, much more than what is left behind and can be restored. I feel contempt for the people who wrecked this destruction. My disdain for those people is based on the fact that they destroyed something that was mine by natural inheritance. Not mine in terms of possession, but in terms of heritage and culture. Not just Indian, but the world heritage and culture. Each of us would have enjoyed the beauty if it had not been razed.

Now, let us go back to the original concern.

Do you think that we have the moral right to detest the people who destroyed our heritage and culture?
Do you believe that we are any different?

We drive to shopping complexes that are not more than 200 meters from our homes. We drive to the park so that we can jog. Even, worse, we walk on tread mills that in turn run on electricity. We use tissue paper and paper napkins, because cotton kerchiefs are not fashionable! Car pooling is very cumbersome. Bigger cars portray our status better then smaller ones. You see, I can go on and on.

Hopefully, you understand the point that I am trying to make here.

Calvin is actually right. If you really delve on our behavior, you will realize that we are parasites. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Almost every living being can be described as paracitical to a certain extent in this context. But we humans are different.

While most other advanced creatures do not have any malignant predisposition towards Nature, we humans do. Why do I say this? Because we are destroying the very organism that we feed upon. The Earth!

Who would like to associate with such malevolent parasites?

What is even more despicable is that we are blissfully ignorant of the fact that we have no where else to go.

We always pass on the onus over to someone else. When people say "you", we think that they are talking about “The You” around us and we carry on with our sloppy behavior. We cook up a bunch of excuses to justify our extravagance.

A child born in the concrete jungle of Delhi can do very little about it. He can visit greener places but he can definitely not grow up like I did in the forests on Kohima. What about Kohima? There used to be a dense undergrowth right in front of my home when I was young. Now, there are houses there. Earlier, rains used to be welcome, because everything would shine with the rain drops. Now, rains mean muddy slush everywhere.

Remember, the future generations, like us, will not have a choice as far as inheritance of this world is concerned. They will have to take whatever we leave behind. However, we, like the past generations, can choose what legacy to leave behind. In the past, some choose to leave behind legacies like the Taj, while others choose to leave behind the legacy of the ruins of Mewar. I have chosen to leave behind a green legacy, what have you chosen?