Nature Tries to Teach

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Nature Tries to Teach

People say that Covid-19 is nature's 'revenge', that nature is angry at us and is trying to get back at us for what we've done to the earth. We have done untold damage to the earth, but I beg to differ on their interpretation about what nature is trying to do. Nature isn't a human being with human emotions. Nature is neither vengeful nor wrathful. Nature merely does what needs to be done for the benefit of the species.

To begin with, each species on earth needs to have a controlled population. If numbers go out of hand, necessary resources become scarce. Let's take the example of the tiger eating the deer. The tiger eats the deer when the tiger is hungry. The tiger only kills when it is hungry, only enough to satisfy its hunger at the time. It is not angry at the deer. It is not cruel. It is doing what it is supposed to do. This keeps the deer population down, so that there is enough grass for the remaining deer to eat and flourish. Human numbers have skyrocketed. Thanks to technology and medicine, lifespans are increasing. Thanks to artificial techniques, fertility rates are increasing - those who may not have had kids are now having them, sometimes more than one kid at a time. Thanks to concrete housing, tigers can't get at human beings to eat them and control the population. (Not even joking, think about it!) Nature had to find a way to keep the numbers down. Nature is not being cruel to us -- we've been cruel to ourselves, increasing our numbers to such an extent that we've made this necessary.

Then, take our lifestyles. We're trying to get too comfortable. We want to sit in a chair in the air and fly, and we want instant internet while we do that. We shouldn't get from one end of earth to the other so soon, if nature had meant us to fly, nature would have given us wings. We are causing pollution. We're causing harmful airwaves that spread disease. We're causing all sorts of disturbances in the natural order of things. We had to be locked up at home for a while, to balance that out. We want to eat without growing our own food. We want to drink water without going to the river. We want to buy stuff without going to the shop. We want to get there now, without any effort, or we want everything to come to us, now. We had to learn to wait. We had to learn to put in some effort.

And our social interactions. Look at the increase in crime -- especially crimes against women and children. Crimes against the weaker sections of society. The strong had to be shown that they aren't, after all, as mighty as they thought they were. That something like a virus could get them, if they didn't watch out. They had to feel the fear they made others feel.

Nature hasn't done this to us. We've done it to ourselves. Nature is trying to help restore the balance. If only we'd realise it, nature is on our side. If only we'd take heed, we could be on the brink of major breakthroughs in human evolution. Stop putting memes on Facebook talking about how miserable 2020 is. It's not 2020 that's miserable, it isn't nature that needs to change. It's us. We've done this to ourselves, and our choices are going to determine our future. We can win, if we allow nature to help us.