This is the thought that came to my mind as I watched the events unfolding this week. The number of infections crossing 2 million in a crippling pandemic that is pushing more people into poverty by the day, doctors dying without hospital care, dozens dead in a landslide on the eroded Western Ghats that we exploited over decades, the path of no return looming ahead of us with the so-called development projects, destroying communities and livelihoods.
As I was torn between distress, anger and frustration, finally, I could only think of a prayer. For forgiveness.
We have let our indulgences – of the mind and the body – overpower the natural, instinctive intelligence that all life has. We dismiss the idea that living simply is to live harmoniously. We have overlooked the richness that Nature can fill us with. We have deluded ourselves with seeking the Almighty without a connection with the living, breathing world. We have thrown to the winds the wisdom of several traditional ways of living that showed us why the collective is more important than the individual. We have lost respect for the sacredness of life.
Making me question the very basis of the claim that human beings are intelligent beings. Because, if indeed we were intelligent, surely, we could not be missing the reprimand that Nature is giving us now. We would allow ourselves to feel the connection with other sentient beings. We would not allow the market induced paradigms override what out hearts will know to be right. We would not be blind to the moments and glimpses of truth, afforded in these months of isolation, as to see what is most essential for life. We would not be restlessly waiting for a return to the normal we knew, not recognizing that to be the path to more destruction.
So, I have decided to ask for forgiveness. For our ignorance. For our arrogance. In trepidation. For the remarkable misdeeds of our species. For the childhoods we have scarred. From the rivers that we will defile more. From the forests that we are on course to destroy. From the animals and ecosystems that we will destroy on this planet that is home to all. From the air that we poison. From the unborn children whose world will be poorer for our actions.
And with a faint glimmer of hope, that we will redeem ourselves once more with that forgiveness.