The looming water crisis, that not many people are worried about, made me revamp this blog post – an essay that I had written quite a while ago. Wake up, people! It’s getting serious, and we need to help!
Time and tide wait for none. That is what they say. That is how it has always been. And that is how it will always be. Neither do they wait for the world’s evolution nor do they hinder evolution. Yet, it is not in the hands of man to control the ticking of nature’s clock. But he has a much bigger and an aesthetic tool in hand, or rather, in his head: the brain. Man cannot go against time. Despite many such fancy works of fiction that show man conquering time, one must understand that it is merely what it is – fiction. Yet, he has the power to decide. Decisions to evolve. Some of these decisions may be conscious and some, involuntary. Yet, when you look back in time (the irony!), you will always praise yourself or mankind for having come up with such ingenuities.
Man has always been ingenuous. But he has also been proud – a trait that continues to trickle down through generations. In spite of his destructive powers, man has always known to adapt. His motto has been: If you cannot tame time, then go along with it, but in the process improve yourself, use new technologies, new tools. And that is how evolution was born.
Evolution has always been based on two points: discovery and invention. Invention has always been dependent on discovery, for the discovery of facts leads to the necessity of inventing tools to implement that discovery. It is these inventions and discoveries that lead to the progression of mankind and the thoughts that plague it. The Darwinian Theory puts forth the fact that us humans are of the monkey family. Given the habits of our ancestors, we can only assume that the process of learning caught up to them and here we are, contemplating and debating about evolution.
The Earth is an ever-changing phenomenon and is an epitome of evolution. Pangaea developed into today’s seven continents: an evolution that none can quite dispute the correctness of. And who knows what the Earth will be in a few million years from now? Evolution: The term itself is an evasive one, for one cannot give any particular time frame, nor can one be sure as to the decisiveness of it. For as seasons change, for as sure as times do, the earth, the skies and the surrounding air, even the world outside these horizons that we know could never be still-standing forever.
Man has seen the most changes in and on this planet since he came into existence and in the few millennia that he has inhabited Earth. From the brute force of gruffly made rock-weapons to protect himself from his co-existing wild animals, to the development of nuclear bombs that can wipe out cities altogether; from the crude, uncooked meat of prehistoric animals to neatly garnished pizzas in plush restaurants; from the scratchy animal-hide tunics to posh suits and jeans; from the cramped, rocky caves to multistoried, spacious mansions.
Man has come a long way, witnessing a million little other shells of evolutionary events on his way, and yet he does not rest, for he has that zest to make his life easier by the day, so much so that it is not far away into the future that evolution will seem like his ultimate sin and the ultimate reason for his financial, emotional and physical penury.
Evolution of the mind and habits, of rules and exceptions, of war and weaponry, of hospitality and medicine, of environment and its destruction, has been so abrupt a change that man hasn’t had the time to think about the extent of havoc his wrong-doing would wreck in the name of evolution. Or should we just say he CHOSE not to think about it! The negative repercussions brought about by these activities might even be irreversible to the point where regrets and condolences on past offences can hardly be useful. We keep saying ‘It isn’t too late to make a change.’ But the sad truth is that it IS late. We keep denying it to make ourselves feel better. Think about it: how much better do you think we will feel when the world crumbles down around us?
There are two ways that this can go:
- Man can go ahead and try to nullify the effects of such evolution as reckless as ours by taking certain steps to make his life, the life surrounding him and the external factors that make living easier (luxurious, even) easier and better.
- Or it might be too late to lament over spilt milk, so much that the very thought of evolution disgusts man and is looked upon as a curse.
This essay does not portray evolution as a negative process. Rather, it stresses on the point that evolution is good, but not at the cost of what we have today. To evolve, we need to change mindsets and change the system without making any changes to the foundation that holds us together.
For example, in the name of development, there has been going on widespread construction for the Metro rail works in the city of Hyderabad. This is undoubtedly a step forward, towards a future where transport is made easier for commuters. Yet, as we pass through areas that we frequent and find it bare, stripped of the giant trees that had taken years to grow, which had been providing shade and shelter to pedestrians and motorists in the heat and rain alike, which had helped keep the atmosphere cool and provided respite from the scorching sun, what else could go on in one’s mind than a fierce need to curse the very concept of evolution? Was this the sole reason for the so-called evolution of the machines? If this is what evolution brings about, then why evolve at all? Why keep pace with the changing times?
In conclusion, there is so much that man can do to ease the process of evolution and make his future life easier. But blindly plodding on towards a ‘development’ that has adverse effects on humanity and the existence of the planet is something that man must avoid at all costs. Instead, he must look for other alternatives and weigh his options, as well as make decisions that will help revive the sagging ecosystem. Changing times bring about evolution that nobody has yet challenged, but if challenges are not made soon, the concept of an ecosystem as well as that of evolution, might as well collapse.
And evolution might just morph into extinction. Which, I’m sure, none of us want happening even though we are actively assisting in it.
The Melodramatic Bookworm 