It has been a while, a very long while…
Due to certain circumstances, I did not have the heart to blog, and to be frank, I still do not have the heart to, but I thought it’s about time I put up the thoughts of this lunatic, if only to prove this lunatic is still a lunatic...
Twas’ the shadow that fell upon the world, a shadow so strong, all were mesmerized. If only the people had seen it coming, if only they had forced the veil of darkness to cast itself side, if only they had worked to save their beloved land from the evil that lurked within…
Often I feel that the fate of the world will someday be as written in the above lines, unless we all take a stand to not only spread awareness but to also improve the world. In today’s world, The Dark Lord (I’m not talking about myself) is no Sauron or Lord Voldemort, but humankind itself. The only way to over throw this Dark Lord is for each of us to convert ourselves into the members of the Fellowship of the Rings, or for all of us to become Harry Potters. Ah but it seems there is still a slight confusion about why I am calling all of us fiends out to destroy the world, and why I am expecting us little fiends to convert into saviors.
I was reading an article the other day, about how compared to old times, people, as a whole has become much kinder and less tolerant of violence. The article was in fact talking about how these days every news channel you switch to, you find talk about violence, crime, wars, reasons to fill peoples’ heads with fear. Yet the truth is that compared to the old days, people have become less cruel to one another, and have learned to cooperate. In the old days, Kings could have your head chopped off for just walking in their garden (ironically, in today’s world, in place of having your head chopped off, you’ll land up getting sued, and this privilege is not only given to Kings…). In the old days, declaring war on each other was easy, and in today’s world, nations have to think it over very carefully before going to war, thus reducing the number of wars. In fact, even though we now have far superior weapons as compared to before, fewer people die in wars.
So now you’ll ask me why I say we’re all little Saurons running loose, after all, the world today is a better place to live in, than say five hundred years ago, right? (And after I explain, you will very kindly point out that I haven’t done anything yet to change things, so I should quit complaining, but that’s not the point, because I can promise you that once I can make a difference, I definitely will.) The Industrial Revolution brought with it advancement in technology, improvement in health, and a much more advanced lifestyle for people who could afford it. It also brought with it an exponential increase in pollution, and global warming. It also brought with it, a new kind of corruption, fraud, a world which pulled everyone into a rat race. I’ll save the talk about corruption in a later post, as Bertrand Russell cleverly said, “Sin is geographical”, and I’ll leave it at that.
The interesting but sad thing about pollution and global warming is that it has been an increasingly important problem, yet no one seems to take it seriously. We always get to hear about it, we always get to hear it is an issue that needs immediate attention, yet in spite of that, we go a step backwards and perendinate, no one wants to give it immediate attention. Most people don’t realize that they’ll have to start taking measures now itself, if only to see results in the far future, results worth putting the money and effort into. No one can solve the problem of global warming and pollution overnight.
The human species is a terribly impatient species, people hardly do anything unless they see the results of their actions almost immediately. No one wants to spend a penny unless they’ll get what they are spending it on right then. Half the world doesn’t even believe global warming is a real problem, and those of us who do, are unwilling to do anything about it, or keep saying there’s nothing that can be done. No one realizes that if we’re going to do anything about it, each and every one of us will have to become committed to the cause. Not only do we have to spread awareness, but we have to actively take part in making the world a better and cleaner place to live in.
Often we get to hear that there is not much that we can do, because the government, our leaders, are not doing anything for global warming. At the same time all of us know that it is the people who can move the government to take serious action about certain issues, and it is our duty to bring our voice to the government and make global warming an issue of immediate concern. There are other issues that are seemingly much more important, and with the Great Recession just put behind us, we feel we have little time to dedicate to global warming when the economy itself has just come out from such a great crisis. Yet if we continue procrastinating over this issue, there will be a day when there will be no one left on the planet who’ll worry about such issues like economic crises. I once read a very thought-provoking line, and though I cannot quote it exactly, it went something like this, “One should not worry too much over problems, as the real problems are the silent ones we all overlook.”
With oil prices rising, I’m sure the government should be coming up with ways to replace oil with better, more non-conventional forms of energy, but what does the government do? They subsidize the oil prices, thus making it more affordable for the masses, while paying the outrageously high oil prices. Even the public are ready to pay higher prices to fuel their cars. People say drive Hybrids, they’re efficient, and will help reduce pollution and bring down the effects of global warming. Car companies don’t seem to realize that most of the world’s population consists of poor people, who cannot afford cars at the price at which Hybrids sell. Thus only the élite can afford to be a part of reducing global warming and pollution. That shouldn’t stop everyone from doing the small things that they can do, still people don’t seem to care enough. The other day I went to an eating place near a lake, and two men sitting near the lake discarded their garbage in the lake, when the dustbin was just ten paces away from them! We continue to have this kind of attitude then before we know it, the whole human race will be wiped off this planet.
So what do I propose we do about it? I say, we do everything we can to help reduce pollution, educate the masses, instigate our government to start taking serious action to help reduce global warming, start recycling, use paper bags or jute bags instead of plastic ones, avoid throwing garbage on the road, conserve electricity and water, avoid wasting food, and the list is just endless. We don’t have the time for wasting it on fighting with each other and thinking only about what profit we can get out of everything. The only profit any of us can make is to think about the future and start trying to save it. In today’s world, we are the only ones who can make a difference, it is about time we take it in our hands to save ourselves from imminent doom. It is about time we realize that the world is ours, and we should treat it with respect. We have to stop being little Dark Lords, out to self-destruct.
