Does Humanity truly possess Humanity?

Imagine this- ‘You are stuffed in a small cage, so small that you can hardly move. It’s been 2 years and you are finally let out. Maybe it’s the time you are reunited with your mother from whose lap you were snatched away, maybe you’ll get the chance to play with others in a peaceful meadow. But for now, you are being led to a shed, you can hear distant screaming but the joy of walking for the first time overshadows it. Moving in that shed, you get into a line leading somewhere. The screams grow louder, you see terror on other faces, but you can’t care enough, you move forward and its finally your turn, and out of blue you get struck down by a stunning bolt gun, soon you would be hung by your legs, your throat cut and you finally leave this cruel hell you call earth, due to blood loss.’

It may sound like a plot from one of those spine-chilling horror movies, but this is nothing but utter truth straight out of the beef and dairy industry. All of us are oblivious to the grim story which entails those delectable meals. This is but one of the millions of instances where humans ride roughshod over other beings and even the nature to fulfil their gluttonous needs. This is not a latest phenomenon; our mother Earth has been witnessing savagery at the hands of homo sapiens from the onset of the species.

Ever since Humans became capable of killing, almost 2-6 million years ago, everywhere they have set foot has been turned into a cemetery for the species already living there. Madagascar, which was once adorned with several animal species living there, including elephant, birds, giant lemurs and much more suffered a heavy blow, the premier victim being the animals. Some getting extinct while others endangered 1,500 years ago, the same time humans set foot on the land, a coincidence? Maybe not. And these atrocities and brutality doesn’t stop with animals, ever since the rise of civilisations, the biggest threat posed to a human life has been the humans themselves. This notion is clearly echoed in the events of modern world including the infamous holocaust (1941-1945) resulting in the killing of 6 million jews, the plight of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region and the Myanmar Rohingya crisis (2017-present). The dismal similitude between these events is, itstemming from human hands.

All of this circles us back to the title , ‘does humanity truly possess humanity’ or on rephrasing ‘are humans really humane?’. The irony that the word “Humanity” (meaning the quality of being compassionate) originates from the word ‘human’- the most pernicious being to exist, makes me giggle. But behind this giggle are the weary eyes exhausted from witnessing the harshness of thisdamp world. This article may be termed as misanthropic but it is far from it, this is not an attempt to disdain the human race, rather it is a clarion call to do away with unnecessary cruelty, giving way to pacifism, coexistence and the eternal longing of peace. But if we still manage to make this message fall on stony ground, we should brace ourselves against the nature’s answer to our cruelty.For beings forget, Nature remembers.

-Sambhav Chhabra