Pondering on what lies ahead
It’s been some time that I wrote something here. Much of what I’ve been posting has been related to stuff I learn about and work on. But recently, my mind has been exploring its philosophical frontiers quite too often and writing about it seems the right way to channelise that energy. So, here it goes.
I love people. I love seeing people smile, most of all, my family (shouldn’t be a surprise (if it was, you need some re-evaluation of priorities to do, my friend)). And I am a lover, a lover of nature, of technology and of what human brain is capable of. Something that makes me feel incredibly happy and satisfied, is if I could be of any help to anyone around me today. Today’s world seems to be trapped in the delusion of social media (which can be used as such a powerful tool, too), where everyone’s lives seem to be so awesome. But beneath that mirage, we never get to know what a person actually feels, or the struggle that they are going through. A question that keeps bothering me is:
What purpose am I to serve here?
It can’t be just getting up every morning, going to work, coming back home and sleeping. Life needs to have a meaning, a mission, a goal, something that kicks you out of bed every morning and makes you feel excited about the day, about how to make the most out of the day. I believe, I have found my mission, my purpose, at least on a broad context.
Climate change
This term, “climate change”, is being used more now, than ever. Climate change refers to the change in the weather patterns of a region over an extended period of time. Various human activities (drilling of coal, deforestation, fracking, etc.) are the major cause of this, which have lead to global warming, where the earth’s temperature is higher than what it should be, leading to catastrophes worldwide like the coral reefs disappearing, the glacier melts, hurricanes, floods, drastic changes in weather, etc. The main reason behind Global warming is the emission of Carbon Dioxide (C02) in the atmosphere, which is a greenhouse gas, and traps the infrared radiation from the sun, causing the temperature to rise. Ever since the invention of the steam engine which began the industrial revolution, humans have been extracting and burning fossil fuels madly, releasing extremely harmful amounts of C02 in the atmosphere. Natural gas was proposed as an alternative to fossil fuels, but the process through which most of the Natural gas is extracted today (called Hydraulic fracturing or fracking) releases extensive amount of Methane (CH4, another greenhouse gas), which is 30 times more harmful than C02, in its heat trapping capability. If we keep relying on these resources for “earning more money”, soon, there won’t be anything to “earn for”.
The renewable sources of energy, primarily hydro, solar and wind, are our best bets for a sustainable future. These require a massive cost upfront, to make it scalable for an entire economy, and that’s why there still account for about 20% of the entire power in India. However, a bigger challenge persists here.
People are not ready to accept climate change as an issue.
Stop here, and think for a moment: How many times have you thought about climate change as a major challenge facing humanity before reading this post? If the answer is “Not many”, then its maybe not your fault. There have been many awareness campaigns about global warming, and people do feel a sense of responsibility, momentarily, but as soon as the day ends, this sense of responsibility ends too. The problem is that the common people are not made aware of the severity of the climate change. The problem is that too much politics is coming in the way of the right actions to be taken, to avoid catastrophic warming. And beneath everything, lies this fundamental problem in the mindset of people today:
Why should I care about doing something that won’t directly affect me today, rather, ensure a safe environment 50 years down the line, when I might not even be there?
How do we change this? If we can find the answer to that, we would have won half the battle already. How do we get people to care about future generations?
What puzzles me, and hurts me today, is that most of us have forgotten what it means to be human, what is empathy, what makes a life worth living, and that giving & caring are the means to have a fulfilling and satisfying life. We are so afraid to talk nowadays, to really talk, about things that we deeply care about, our fears, and rather prefer hiding behind text messages. Caring about and trying to help everyone around me, smiling and making other people smile, and motivating everyone to be the best version of themselves, these are the things that have given me immense joy for the past one and a half years. It makes me feel really sad, when people who have so much potential, waste their precious time over petty things, obsessing over materialistic stuff that won’t even matter in the long run. But I believe that someday this will change, someday people will realise that they can achieve so much, together. My only fear is that, it might just be too late. Too late to fix all that’s gone wrong, to realise that having all the money in the world isn’t the motive of life, to realise that family is the most precious gift that God has given to us.
On an ending note, I remain a nature lover, a people lover and that’s the reason I can’t see what climate change is doing to us today. And I pledge to dedicate my life to battling climate, to make people aware about the real dangers we face collectively as a group and to encouraging people to stop “texting” and start communicating.
If you’ve made this far, then I am really thankful to you for spending your precious time, reading about my thoughts. I’d love to know any opinion you have or if this made you a bit more aware of the urgency of the task in hand.
The purpose of life is not only to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
