Only Respect Will Restore The Balance

Dear Readers,

Mumbai heaved a massive sigh of relief when Cyclone Nisarga chose its own, much appreciated form of social-distancing from this Maximum City, a few days ago. Nearly felt like Mother Nature applying the ‘carrot and stick’ method, betwixt Her ongoing ‘Human-Detox’ phase, that has gripped humanity in the form of the Pandemic.

The Universe is all-rational and we worship Nature as one of its divine manifestations. In keeping with the global endeavour to curb the havoc of death and destruction wreaked by the novel coronavirus, many have, at some point, wondered, ‘Why is humanity riddled with such cruelty?’ Maybe ‘comeuppance’ would be a more suitable replacement to the term ‘cruelty’, because cruelty is a shamefully exclusive human trait. And that truth gets reinforced every so often, when we hear of our own ghastly deeds against God’s creations, including ourselves… more recently, the tragic death of an elephant in Kerala who was fed a pineapple stuffed with fire-crackers, or the racial, hate-crime against African American George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA, who was brazenly suffocated to death. Feels like humanity is veering dangerously close to the brink of spiritual bankruptcy.

There’s much evil in the world that we advertently or inadvertently validate, or worse, witness as mute spectators. We need to wake up and restore the balance with our own acts of kindness, no matter how small, starting with just even one at a time. But, it will take more than just good deeds to restore this balance, as that would still be a symptomatic solution. The root cause of virtually every crime, cruelty and wrong-doing lies in an abject lack of respect… a lack of respect for the environment, a lack of respect for our fellow creatures, a lack of respect for our own species. This dearth of respect is evident at all levels – global, national, community and individual, and what goes around will come around for certain. Insomuch, this pandemic does feel like the ‘coming around’ of this deficiency of respect, which was pretty much on its way to becoming the new norm… till we were abruptly slapped with a whole new normal, instead.

We have to get to the source of this appalling disrespect and furnish a renewed sense of respect, if we are to ever truly restore real balance in nature, and consequently, in our lives and well-being. The darkness of disrespect can only be quelled by fostering the light of genuine reverence and commitment to our responsibilities, as the supposedly superior species. That will call for honest introspection and breaking the toxic bubble of self-obsession and entitlement, that most of us are smugly cocooned in, happily oblivious to more such ‘coming arounds’, which will perhaps not be as sparing of us, the next time around.

The simple truth is, we need to do our bit to restore the balance, for the sake of our own lives, our safety and well-being. The balance can only be truly restored when we choose to imbibe, learn and practice a sense of respect towards each and every creation of God – nature, flora, fauna, mammals, mankind, et al … starting out with keeping up the social distancing measures and wearing the mask as India eases the lockdown… And then taking it further, by unmasking truths that are taken for granted, clearing out choked perspectives, and going out once again into the world, but this time, with a renewed sense of respect for all, coupled with the commitment to restoring the balance, as your very own expression of gratitude to the legacy of mankind.

Have a good weekend and stay safe!

– Anahita