What is cancer? In essence, a couple of cells in the body start misbehaving. Forgetting that they are a part of a big whole and if they misbehave, that big whole (which we call body) will vanish and with that big whole, they themselves will vanish.
Let’s look at it closely. A couple of cells in the body start multiplying themselves. They forget that they should remain small in number. They forget that it is important for the proper functioning of the system called body. They forget that if they keep multiplying, the body of which they are a part will die. And with that body, they will also die. I do not know what drives them to multiply. What drives them to put such a pressure on the resources of the body system. Do they also have ego which makes them blind to the position they actually occupy in the body system. And forgetting their position, they start damaging the body.
And what’s the end result? The body dies. And those cells die too.
Last weekend, I had a horrid experience. I saw a fellow in our society cutting an amaltaas tree. Yes, he was cutting the whole tree down. When I asked him the reason, he nonchalantly said that the flowers of this tree were spoiling his garden. I was speechless.
I am part of a group that has planted about 200 trees on Baner hill (a small hillock in Pune). Every Sunday morning, we spend a couple of hours watering those plants. And on the other hand, I see this person cutting a tree in my society. Half of the tree was already down and the other half was almost there.
I was not angry. I was just disgusted. Not just at him. But at the likes of him. There is so much talk about global warming today that nobody can escape knowing about it. And still, what is it that we are doing?
Aren’t human beings like cancerous cells on the body of planet Earth? They have multiplied themselves beyond all proportions. Wherever they have gone, they have disturbed the eco-system. They themselves are part of the Earth and are completely dependent on it for their survival and yet forgetting this simple thing, they are destroying the very eco-system that makes their survival possible. Brutes!
And what has been achieved by human beings after all this blunder? The average life span has reduced, the number of diseases (small or big) that each one of us is fighting has increased. How many of us can come forward and claim that we are happy. Not occasionally happy like a fire of dry grass that flares up and dies down. But rather permanently happy like the coals simmering for a long time. Will that person remain happy forever after his garden is free from those yellow flowers? Fools! That’s what we are!!
I wouldn’t be surprised if the human beings are wiped out from the face of the Earth. And I won’t be disappointed too if I see that happening. And for Earth, how does it matter whether human beings are around or not. The existence of human race matters only to the human race. Such is the havoc we have created that (I am sure) all other living entities will be happier to see that human beings are not around.
The cancer of the Earth.