Just an Itch: The things we do for Self
Stories and things to write about somehow manage to find me even when I am not looking for them. Well, I guess that’s what happens when you soak yourself in a particular passion, for after a while, the passion by itself begins to attract what is required to keep it going. It’s just one of the beautiful things that happens with staying the course for change. You can say it’s the law of attraction that is at work or just some act of the universe loving back on you. Either way, I have a drama to share with you.
I stumbled upon a short video clip on Facebook. I think the video is just few seconds long but the content really made some impression on my mind and which is why I am writing this article.
The video, which I believe was recorded from a Safari truck, was about an elephant pushing a not really small tree. I watched as this elephant pushed the tree down. The tree fell across the road. So, obviously, the Safari truck and its occupants would have to either go through another road or get help to remove the tree from the road ahead of them. What happened next can only be called a work of art even though it was destructive.
This huge elephant walked up to the fallen tree and started to rub his huge bum on the tree. Oh my! It was then it dawned on me that the entire purpose of felling that tree, which had taken years to grow in the wild was just so that this huge elephant could scratch an itch in its bum.
All for an itch
I watched this elephant do what it did and I was really impressed at the intelligence displayed but dismayed at the destruction it left in its path. The entire thing looked like a performing art and purely so it was. So, I love the art displayed but I dislike the act, for it is a waste of a fine tree just to scratch an itchy bum.
The question now is this, how many times have we as humans made destructive decisions and choices just so that we can pacify the itch in our egos? How many senseless wars and how much destruction have nations carried out on other nations just so that they can prove they have better war equipment? How many land and water bodies have been destroyed through pollution just so that we can prove that we have the power to mine oil and natural resources without any consequences? How many mindless policies have governments of the world made just to undermine and make mockery of others and satisfy their own egos?
When I looked at that video and what the elephant did, I asked myself why. The answer is just the very same answer you find when you ask why people do what they do and treat others like trash, why nations behave the way they do towards citizens of other nations, why leaders treat their citizens awfully, why racism is still poking our eyes, why a group of faceless idiots will impose a pandemic on the entire globe and why the madness in the world is not ending even with all the noise about ending it. The answer I think is simply because they think they can. And it’s that simple really.
For instance the mighty elephant would have found a different way to scratch its bum if it did not have the power and the mass to bend and fell that tree. And who in the entire jungle would have stopped it from doing it? Is it the tree? It’s very helpless against such power. Is it the humans watching in awe at the back of the truck? No they can’t stop it. They are both afraid and also enjoying the show, which is why I was able to see the video. And definitely not the other trees, they are too stuck in their positions to help.
But this is the picture of our society in which the strong prey on the weak just so they can scratch some itchy bum of their pride and foolish minds, and that because they know that justice is just some words written in some books with men and women who are wearing some funny looking colonial wigs talking about what is written and not about what actually happened that required justice. So they are like the elephant. They can demolish a building, shut down an investment or close down a farmland just because it belongs to a foreigner. And then leave the very land unused after the destruction. The foolishness of human minds is so very displayed everywhere in our world in a performing art just like the elephant and its big itchy bum.
Life is too short
Yes you heard it. Life is too short for foolishness but long enough to live a wise and a productive one which generations unborn can talk about for good. We all just need to know and also understand that this earth and all its content belongs first, to God and then to all of us. We can’t live and behave as if the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening because we said so. Nor can we live and behave as if there is anyone among us who can tap themselves with their own hands to wake up in the morning. It’s very clear for whoever wants to see that, we are crushing our world under the weight of egos and unnecessary pride which are almost all the time founded on emptiness and futility. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul, his humanity, his sanity etc., is not just an admonition for Bible Christians alone, it’s for every human on the earth. So, you can hate God all you like and dismiss the Bible ten times over, the principle remains the same and applies to everyone. Men do reap what they sow and it’s not debatable. For he who sows egos, pride, foolishness, waywardness, corruption etc., will definitely reap the fruit of futility. But he who sows love, empathy, compassion, kindness, joy, true beauty of the heart etc., will definitely reap a crown of wisdom and glory that generations after him or her will love and honor in absentia.
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