We are innocent

“Global warming, rising temperatures, so many catastrophes. What have we humans done to this planet? We have made our lives miserable for ourselves, there’s no doubt about that.  What about the other poor, intellectually inferior species we haven’t even taken into consideration. They are also having to face the consequences of our actions. Many species of flora and fauna have silently gone extinct and there was nothing anybody could do about it. It’s time we wake up to reality and start making some effort towards saving our planet. Let us work towards preserving our species as well as those that surround us.” These are all the common dialogues or sentences we frequently hear or come across from the “environmental lovers” who care about the planet and its life. Humans are the main target in all these talks or writings and are blamed for all sorts of atrocities towards the planet. We humans show no mercy in criticizing ourselves for all that we have done.

There is certainly no exaggeration in saying that we, humans are the prime reason for the deteriorating environment and life around us. But there’s also no denying the fact that nothing lasts forever. Nothing is permanent and everything created will eventually be destroyed. Humans, animals, plants, trees and the planet earth as a whole has to come to an end sometime or the other. So what if none of this is our fault. Maybe this is how it was meant to be. Maybe we are all part of a larger game plan which involves us behaving the way we do. Maybe we were meant to evolve intellectually, make lives easier for ourselves, injure the planet in that process and die finally, taking down the entire planet with us.

There are many interesting theories suggesting that there is a greater entity controlling us. That our pseudo feelings of self-importance are something to be laughed at. One of them is the SIMS theory. SIMS is a famous video game which involves simulating a virtual world. The player is required to create virtual people called “SIMS”, tend to their desires and needs and establish their lives. The SIMS theory puts forward the possibility of humans being “SIMS”. It essentially states that all of us were actually created by someone and that he/she is just playing a game of SIMS with us. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? Because that is what we do with our lives. Whoever is playing must be one messed up person. Even in literature, there are books that suggest the same. For example, in the bestseller “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by the renowned Douglas Adams it was said that the Earth was just a supercomputer created by mice (of all the animals) to perform experiments which would eventually help them (mice) understand the meaning of life. Well, that definitely deflates all our egos.

So if the theories stated above are true, doesn’t that make us humans innocent? We are mere puppets being controlled by “something else”. That “something else” is to be blamed for whatever is happening to us. That “something else” has programmed us in this self-destructive way to maybe satisfy its philosophical needs or maybe just have fun. Doesn’t that make all our efforts redundant? All our “Save the Planet” campaigns and programs are futile because whatever is controlling us has maybe already made up its mind and will do what it has to do despite our efforts. We aren’t that bad after all.

But I also don’t deem it right to stop all our efforts. We are stronger and will put up a fight. As the classic poem by Dylan Thomas goes “Do not go gentle into that good night”, we won’t rest and will keep fighting for whatever we know and have come to love.