All Life Matters

michael l. mizrahi Is the World Better Off without People?
General Ursus from the original Planet of the Apes 1968

I read an article about a family who raised a chimpanzee along with their new born son and that at some point the chimp could not keep up with the progression of it’s cognitive thinking. Proving what exactly? Does this make man superior? Chimps seem to live in relative harmony in their environment. Has man done such a good job at using our brains? Perhaps the horses should do the thinking for us, they have the big heads! Man can capture, dominate and kill any other animal species on the planet (and man does just that). “I can kill you!” Is that proof of superiority, top of the food chain or spearhead of evolution? Wouldn’t it be superior of man to know our advantage to other animals, creatures, the environment and other people, and not exploit that advantage, but rather behave responsibly and respectfully toward all life? This is a my skewed way of saying, all life matters.

I don’t like to complain about a problem without offering a solution. Where is the reward in that? Most anyone can see what’s wrong in the world. We can all see the wrong others are doing, but when it comes to our own behavior, we all have a blindspot; the things about ourselves we can’t or won’t see, conscious or unconscious. I also believe that my finding the wrong in the world, in people is a way of me avoiding addressing what needs to be addressed in my life. The stuff that I’m afraid to address, or seems so hard to change. The basic dialogue in my head goes, “See how fucked up everyone else is, I must be okay then. At least I’m not doing what they’re doing!”. I do believe that blindspot is our minds way of protecting us from pain. Giving us only what we can handle at the time.

I don’t think man will destroy the planet. I think man may destroy a lot and thereby destyroying ourselves, but I think once we’re gone, the planet will recover itself. It may take time, but Earth has time. I wonder if global warming isn’t a bad thing. Maybe we need to go – to be extinct. Man is a threat to every living thing and the environment. Please don’t point your finger at Brazil for de-forestation, or the Russians for meddling our voting system, or the Nazi’s for trying to genocide the Jews. Sure, they’re all bad things man has done. But we, in the United States are doing all of that, right here. We’ve killed 55 million American Indians (90% of the population) and took their land and we call ourselves leaders of the free world. Land of the free! Home of the brave! Is that a joke or what. America has influenced, if not cheated every election in Central and South America since mid-twentieth century. I’m sure this is a global agenda. And no doubt we knocked down every tree that got in the way right here in the USA. Every house in the United States is built on blood – someone or something died for us civilized nice guys to feed and shelter our families.

The Talmud says, to save one life is to save the world entire. Make a difference where I am on the micro-level. And I have to go on the faith that others are doing the same. So, – Is the world better off without people? Is the wrong question. The question is am I doing my part to better this world? Do I let my fears drive me or do I live by the inspiration. A wise man said, Courage is not the absence of fear, courage is to move forward despite the fear.

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