Share

25 April 2020

The Mask Of Sorrow

I have a dream, declared an ambitious heart.

If you can dream it, then I can achieve it challenged the cunning brain.

Aim bigger and go for more, egged the greedy mind.  

We are born to rule roared the ego.


Our superior intelligence has certainly given us the edge over the other species. And this advantage has also given us the belief that the earth belongs only to us. Our world domination might still be a work in progress but this juggernaut has been gaining momentum. The fun part is, we even managed to get rid of the unnecessary nuisance of guilt and remorse along the way. So we don't regret our actions. Life was never this beautiful and comfortable. Who cares if animals don’t share this sentiment? The Earth itself might feel abused. Do we care? Of course not? We are born to rule this planet and rule we shall. 

With an air of invincibility and conviction of our destiny to reach the imagined future, we were all set for another high octane ride this year. Unfortunately, the pride of our past success and the race towards the imagined future, made us lose sight of the present. We failed to notice that nature was secretly scheming to put us in place. We even ignored the clues that nature was trying to give us. We failed to listen to a chilling question that nature was asking us, 'Where is your mask'? 


Social Distancing



Why would we pay heed? After all, we are invincible and we fear nothing. Do we? Since the beginning of this year, that ominous question Where is your mask kept ringing in the air. But most countries were busy squabbling over who created this menace rather than acting swiftly. We even challenged the social distancing measures and got too close for comfort with each other. 


Life is all about the trade-off. And as Newton would say, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Progress and Development give us comfort but also the side effects in equal measure.  But the rapid increase in human avarice sadly matched the advancement in technology. The result was a powerful backlash that we couldn’t handle. We might be able to destroy nature but we can’t beat the laws of nature. Can we?

Alas, the juggernaut has come to a screeching halt. The invincible humans are brought down to their knees. We could achieve anything that we could imagine and we could destroy anything that we see. But nature played it smartly and unfairly by unfurling an invisible enemy. In just a matter of 2 months, we are shown our place in the pecking order. We are scared, locked down, and socially distanced. Powerful leaders are exposed for their inefficiencies, Nations are clueless. Ambitions have given way to mere survival. We finally listened to nature and picked up our masks.


We are forced to put a mask around our ego, our desire, our arrogance, and our cockiness. We are desperately trying to cover our fears and uncertainties behind the mask. Behind the mask, we are learning the power of humility and the truth of who we are. The mask has uncovered a simple peaceful world that we long forgot. The mask is revealing what a sad, insignificant, and fragile species we are. The invincible mankind is cowering behind the mask mortified by an invisible enemy. Under the cover of the mask, we are silently uttering some long-forgotten prayers to save us from this misery. The mask is not just a cover to protect us. It's a cover that reveals the truth. The sad, bitter truth that we are not as indestructible as we thought we were. 

Nature is not done yet. The humiliation is still not complete. The mask might help many humans survive this threat. But will it save humanity? Will we take the truth we are discovering about ourselves behind these masks once the world returns to normalcy? 

Or will nature force us to wear this mask of sorrow again? 

2 comments:

  1. Our arrogance is unmasked. Our cruelty is unmasked. Our crookedness and wickedness is unmasked. We can cover all that with a mask. It's only temporary. When we come out of it, all evils also will return along with us. It's in our DNA. Nothing can change it.

    ReplyDelete

  2. "True: recklessness has been reigned in by nature after a lot of unheeded pleas, requests and warnings. By which ASTRA. A simple non-living organism, wrapped in fat. Exposing the inadequacy of health care systems and preparedness, which we thought was our strong defence. Shame; an unworthy opponent has the human-kind crawling. Scrambling to hide face behind masks, practice untouchability, even keep the loved ones at arms distance. But have we learnt our lessons or we will go on as if there is no tomorrow. One thing for sure, this will not be the last feather of corona. There will be periodical reminders to us to mend and behave."

    ReplyDelete

Share your views