Shock, awe and lessons lost

THE WAY THINGS ARELanguage is one of humankind’s finest achievements. Its progression led to swifter understanding of the actions our species needed while hunting or escaping predators, for expressing emotions, understanding each other. Some words lose impact by overuse or misuse but, at times, they arrive because they are appropriate. I was shocked when I read of the death of Sevgul Uludag, who needs no introduction to anyone who really cares about a reunited Cyprus because of the fearless, honest journalist she was, and the work she did for the Missing. She was awesome. She didn’t just talk about people getting together to help each other; she acted. A woman who deserves islandwide recognition as a Cypriot whose reward was the closure she gave to the grieving, north and south, and her strength by example not to be intimidated by threats. Shock is also used to measure earthquakes. The horror of Venezuela’s tragedy made headlines and nations responded, as human nature should in such circumstances, rushing to help with the expertise Venezuela lacked. If countries helped each other consistently, swiftly and fairly from a humane perspective, how beneficial it would be for international relations. The earth is changing, we are changing it; people are changing. Science is now speculating young people are ageing faster biologically, nothing to do with chronological age. Our immune systems are facing overloads never battled before because of our actions and inactions. Former temperate summer climes are now assaulted with heat powering up. Our bodies that took so long to evolve, will to have to adapt rapidly to manage our homes, our wasteful excesses, and stop our wars. We procrastinated over the known advance of the Big Heat, there’s comfort in denial, we can act tomorrow. The world is in a state of expanding pollution from human behaviour as well as unrelenting drones, bombs, myriad destructive weapons adding heat and toxicity to an already overburdened atmosphere. We film and write dystopian ‘tomorrow-has-arrived’ stories where greedy, egomaniacal leaders have altered stable democracy through self-interest control. Or where sociopaths have levelled everything, killed thousands to rid themselves of an enemy force regardless of the resulting catastrophe to life and the planet. Some star gazers hope other species exist in the universe who might enlighten us. The skeptic’s answer is, ‘If they know us, they will stay away.’ What could an alien judge from our history? Long ago, kings and the high-ranking warrior class led their men into battle, sharing dangers, sleeping rough, getting wet, cold and hungry, or risk appearing as cowards. Today’s ‘warrior class’ sit in comfortable offices, meet at luxury hotels to discuss strategy, eat gourmet meals while their armies eat packed rations, suffer and die. Aliens might also ask why so many faith-leaders demand suffering and sacrifice from their followers to gain their love, or prove their own. Access to information could inform aliens that (mostly) men have always been blood thirsty, killing not always in service of honour or defence, but to personally enrich/protect themselves to the detriment of fellow humans. They would surely wonder why, as we have rational ability to recognise consequences of mistakes we have made through bloodshed, avarice, ambition, we still continue to make them. Only with more sophisticated weapons, more deadly pollution invading land and sea, where before natural order maintained a perfect balance, provided us with food, clean water and fresh air. They would do a ‘Scotty, beam us out of here, fast!’ light leap never to return.