Silvanus Lamin

Living the daily routine of life, I often immerse myself in different thoughts and dreams. I start thinking about random aspects of the life that we live and the reasons behind them. I often ponder why God has created this planet and even more on why he has filled it with humans and so many other living and non-living subjects and objects to occupy it. It makes me wonder about how other living and non-living subjects and objects communicate between themselves and how they communicate with others in times of need. If humans are indeed the smartest beings on Earth, then what is their true purpose? What made God create the most violent and civilized beings on earth? All these thoughts wander aimlessly in my head and at one point, when I can take it no longer, I am brought down to reality and the monotonous routine begins, with all these thoughts crammed safely at the back of my head.

In order to understand God’s divine creation, I set out to inspect my personal life and its progression to better realize the inter-relation between all living and non-living subjects and objects. I have thus found out that in order to be properly raised and nurtured, I have relied heavily on my parents, family and friends. In turn, they have also been dependent on me for many reasons, big or small. My education to be a proper human being in the society came primarily from my teachers, elders and guardians, as well as books, journals and novels written by prominent writers from this country and abroad. I have become at one with my surroundings and with mother nature in order to fulfill my basic desires and survive. I used the river water to bathe, fed on the fish from the river, breathed the oxygen from the air and sown seeds in the soft soil to embrace the arrival of golden crops in the fields. Like all men, I have driven around the country in man-made vehicles and remained witness to the amazing beauty that cloaks us from all sides. All this made me come to the conclusion that God has created us for specific reasons, each referring to an individual. Perhaps, he wishes to create inter-dependency among all creations and wants us to live together in harmony by respecting and realizing that inter-dependency. If that were true, then that is what we as human beings should make our goal to achieve. After all no creation of God Almighty can be considered negligible, no individual weak. We must all work together to achieve what God has in store for us. For any slight change in God’s divine creation could bring about catastrophic changes in our world.

Just as we decorate our houses to make it more comfortable and beautiful, God has created all these landscapes, water bodies and amazing life forms to adorn this planet that we made our home.  All these creations were made in order to improve and maintain the important inter-relation between all beings. The mind and progression of the human brain over the years has made it possible for us to tame the animals of the wild. However, this does mean that we have any right to destroy or endanger any species for our own desires. We must remember that our ancestors have fought with these wild animals for their food before they were to be able to tame them and control them. This continuous evolution of mankind has made it possible for us to pet animals today. Therefore, as the prime species of this planet, it is our duty to nurture all animals and plant life that God has blessed us with. Our position in the food chain makes us that much more responsible for the survival and well-being of these creations. The real story, however, is very much the opposite. We have become the most violent creatures in this ecosystem. We fail to see animals and plants as anything more than sources of food and money. Every living thing now has a market value, from the hides of animals to the fruits and wood of trees. We have become a consumption based society and this has caused devastating effects in the balance of nature, causing our co-inhabitants to fall at the precipice of extinction.

Due to this violent behaviour of the most uncivilized species on earth, numerous species are now being severely endangered. Although it is impossible to estimate the number of species that have fallen victim to the stampeding aggression of the more stronger kind, it is very much observable that the exponential increase in human population has been countered with a sharp decline in the number of other species present. Using their progressive, humans could have prevented the demise of many kinds of life forms in the past, but they did not. On the contrary, they have made sure that priceless species are pushed to the verge of being wiped out. And as one wicked deed causes another, nature has played its part to assure that the development of the human race does not follow so smoothly. Over the past 10 years, climate induced disasters alone took down a large percentage of the population, disrupting human progress with natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, droughts and a variety of diseases. And so it will go on, till as long as it takes for the human race to realize the importance of other species in the ecosystem and their inter-dependency among them.

The way humans have wronged other species of life is truly unforgivable. Even though, nature’s children seem to be praying to their creator, our creator to forgive the human race for their evil deeds. They plea to our conscience to stop this rampage so that everyone can live in harmony as it should be. If the most intelligent beings on this planet could evaluate their surroundings properly, they would be able to see the contributions of these seemingly negligible beings keep in our very survival. Then, perhaps, all of this would stop and we would think deeply before even thinking about harming the very essence of our existence of many seen and unseen living and non-living subjects and objects. This is why, all nature lovers truly understand the magic that surrounds us all the time and come forward on behalf of every endangered and non-endangered species. They plead with us to stop cutting trees, hunting animals or polluting nature with man-made products and toxic waste so that man and other kinds can re-establish that chain of inter-dependency and love all others who share this world with us. If this dream is truly materialized, it would not only preserve nature and all its mesmerizing beauty but it would also ensure the preservation of the homo sapiens.

Translated by Adit Narayan Adhikary