The World of Man
I went over to fix a computer for a friend of mine tonight at around 2100, and I left at around midnight. In most places of our world midnight is a quiet time, as quiet at least as the 21ST Century will allow. There are places, true, which do not sleep, even at that dark and still hour. But where I live midnight is relatively tranquil.
I have driven the roads near to my home in the hours of night many, many times. I have seen nearly the exact sameness of my small corner of the world countless times. I have noticed with passing care the numerous vehicles on the roads, the warm lights in windows of homes and businesses, the signs of human inhabitation in other words; all with very little regard or concern.
This night’s drive, though, struck with a different, unmistakable sort of force. The world I know had not changed, physically at least, yet something was out of place as I drove home in the dark. I saw most clearly, perhaps disturbingly clearly, the few vehicles on the road, the never-ending glow of electric lights, and the few unfortunate souls caught out of doors in the damp cold; I saw the irreversible and damning touch of man everywhere I looked.
We’ve so little of the natural world left to us. And everyday that small, precious piece of our planet is lessened. There are few places now alive in our world as they once were, unblemished and unscarred by the ravaging greed of men. Instead we have towering monuments to the marvels of engineering. We have built our prisons in the form of great cities. We have departed so far from the natural world that we no longer no how to survive long without our support system. In short, the quest to dominate the natural world has failed, but not entirely.
We can destroy our world at will to ensure our supposed needs are met. We can rape the planet or resources with impunity and without care. We can abuse and bury our fellow man in the name of progress. Yet when the natural world rebukes us our grievances, we stand unprepared and unable to withstand the onslaught which Mother Nature can so brutally deal out. We can, as mankind has always been able too, bend the natural world to our will, but we can never break the law of nature. And we can hold the world to our will for only so long, but it is long enough to allow us to believe that we have indeed conquered that last frontier.
I’m not sure what brought this on, nor am I sure of where it is supposed to lead. But I am tired now and I have things to do in the morning, so I shall depart now. Think of this what you will, hopefully it will do someone some amount good, no matter how small and insignificant.
Out.