A few days ago, I came across "A Pale Blue Dot", a profound thought, articulated by eminent physicist Prof. Carl Sagan [many audio/video renditions, like the one shared above, are available on YouTube]. Addressing the entire humankind he says: ".. there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves".
How true it sounds, when the disheartening news of terror attacks in Paris, reaches us. Nothing seems to have changed from the attacks of 26/11 in Mumbai and many attacks before and after. In the middle of second decade of the 21st century, at a time when we making tremendous leaps in our understanding of the world and applying it make our lives better, we still can not find ways to reconcile our differences and collaborate. Instead humans choose to kill another in conflicts ranging from skirmishes, wars, riots to terror attacks.
How do we react when such incidents occur ? There are usual statements of condemnations and angry responses. Then the political blame games begin. For example, if you have followed the timeline of facebook posts - you will find many people using the occasion to score political points -- for example, in India, the Hindu 'nationalists' are quick to point out that the terror attacks are due to Islamic ideology and the 'secularists' are citing the dominating policies of powerful Christian nations and loss of lives in NATO led wars in the Arab world to underline that attacks are not one sided. The gun and anti-gun lobbies used this occasion to make their cases. European and American groups are trying to justify their hatred against the Arab world and vice versa. These are only indicative. I am sure, you will see many more differences, debates and fights from groups and communities in different parts of the world being pushed into the public discourse, in this backdrop.
Each such concern, argument or narrative, has an element of truth in it. But at the end of the day, are we addressing these problems ? Are we able to prevent these terror attacks ? Do we, as common people, have a better defense against such attacks ? If similar attack happens in Mumbai again, will we be able to prevent loss of lives. Will we be able to punish the guilty in a timely manner ? Can we avert conflicts and wars ? Our hardened positions maintain status quo for centuries ? Even after centuries we still fight over the same set of issues, after few centuries will we be fighting over the same things ? Possibly, with more destructive weapons and weakened economies.
These debates and emotional responses, will die down in a couple of weeks - when the incident goes out of focus. Then these issues will be forgotten until next attack occurs. And then the same cycle repeats. This keeps on recurring over and over again - with the magnitude of the impacts getting larger and larger. The problem is that everyone is talking, no one is listening, and more importantly no one is taking steps to change the status quo.
In these battles, we as humans are knowingly or unknowingly, are working towards our own extinction. Humans do not require for extinction, an asteroid from space, like the one which eliminated the mighty dinosaurs who once ruled the earth, much as we do today - for we are creating our own weapons of mass destruction.
Prof. Sagan has put it so eloquently, that we need to save us from ourselves !
