If we are gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us

So I've decided to take a page out of Eryn's book and write a blog about a real life issue. Granted, it's not a huge impact to our way of life (although it should make people think), but this story really got to me. I was watching the news a while ago and I saw this heartbreaking story about a 5 year old boy named Youssif from Iraq who was playing in his yard one day when he was grabbed by masked men who then poured gasoline on the poor kid and lit him on fire.

After hearing this I was so shocked and I cried because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could someone do something so horrible, so evil to a poor, innocent little child? Youssif's parents said they had no idea why they attacked their son. And the story went by completely un-noticed until recently. Youssif's father risked his life to get help for his son, and eventually was able to contact CNN who broadcasted the story. Luckily for his family, tons of support for Youssif poured in and the Children's Burn Foundation in the US payed for Youssif and his family to travel to the states to get re-constructive surgery for him. Obviously they can't get rid of all the scarring, but I saw an update last night and it showed the results of his first few surgeries and it seems to be doing wonders. But even so, he and his family have been forced to completely up-root themselves, and that poor boy may never recover from the emotional trauma.

Shit like this happens every day and its so heartbreaking but it goes by un-noticed because the media focuses on cracked up celebrities and the "War on terror". Eryn is completely right and I agree with her 100% when she said that the media distracts us with meaningless bullshit so we don't pay attention to the real issues in the world. I'm sick of the Joke known as Britney Spears, and all the other fucked up, attention whores the media focuses on. Youssif's story is absolutely heartbreaking, and it was painful to watch this poor 5 year old crying out of fear and pain on his way to surgery. But how many millions of people had no clue? And how many millions of people experience tragedies like this everyday and suffer in silence? It makes me so disgusted with the human race to know what we are capable of doing, and knowing that people are perfectly content to push aside the real tragedies and instead addict us to celebrity boob jobs. I mean, how many millions of people were ignorant about the North American Union up until recently? And now it's probably too late. Today we are forced into a North American dictatorship and tomorrow we'll have tracking devices in our brains and our freedoms and luxuries will be history.

Human beings are possibly the most destructive, un-grateful species that has ever walked this Earth. I mean, it provides us with everything we need, and what do we do? We melt the polar ice caps, pollute the air, cut down the trees that work so hard to clean that air, kill excessively for fun, and even destroy ourselves. Please forgive me for the SHITTY reference, but in the Matrix when Agent Smith said human beings are a parasite... well, it's pretty god damn true. We are bringing about our own demise and the vast majority of us don't even realize it. And we are not only bringing ourselves to extinction, but all life on this planet is being dragged down with us. The Earth itself will heal in time, it's survived and adapted for Billions of years. but is this really the future we want for ourselves? Do we really want to war ourselves out of existence and drag down every other living thing with us?

Kay, I know this blog entry is too long already, but I want to post one more thing. It's an excerpt from Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, one of Ian Malcolm's many lectures throughout the book, and possibly one of the biggest reasons I love the book so much. As crazy as Malcolm is, he makes some really good points and this post really hit me. Its a good example of how ignorant and arrogant our species is.

"You egomaniacal idiot," Malcolm said in a fury. "Do you have any idea what you are talking about? You think you can destroy the planet? My, what intoxicating power you must have." Malcolm sank back on the bed. "You can't destroy this planet. You can't even come close."

"Most people believe," Hammond said stiffly, "that the planet is in jeopardy."

"Well, it's not," Malcolm said.

"All the experts agree that our planet is in trouble."

Malcolm sighed. "Let me tell you about our planet," he said. "Our planet is four and a half billion years old. There has been life on this planet for nearly that long. Three point eight billion years. The first bacteria. And, later, the first multicellular animals, then the first complex creatures, in the sea, on the land. Then the great sweeping ages of animals - the amphibians, the dinosaurs, the mammals, each lasting millions upon millions of years. Great dynasties of creatures arising, flourishing, dying away. All this happening against a background of continuous and violent upheaval, mountain ranges thrust up and eroded away, cometary impacts, volcanic eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving... Endless constant and violent change... Even today, the greatest geographical feature on the planet comes from two great continents colliding, buckling to make the Himalayan mountain range over millions of years. The planet has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us."

Hammond frowned. "Just because it has lasted a long time," he said, "doesn't mean it's permanent. If there was a radiation accident..."

"Suppose there was," Malcolm said. "Let's say we had a bad one, and all the plants and animals died, and the earth was clicking hot for a hundred thousand years. Life would survive somewhere - under the soil, or perhaps frozen in Arctic ice. And after all those years, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would again spread over the planet. The evolutionary process would begin again. It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety. And of course it would be very different from what it is now. But the earth would survive our folly. Life would survive our folly. Only we," Malcolm said, "think it wouldn't."

Hammond said, "Well, if the ozone layer gets thinner-"

"There will be more ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface. So what?"

"Well. It'll cause skin cancer."

Malcolm shook his head. "Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It's powerful energy. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation."

"And many others will die out," Hammond said.

Malcolm sighed. "You think this is the first time such a thing has happened? Don't you know about oxygen?"

"I know it's necessary for life."

"It is now," Malcolm said. "But oxygen is actually a metabolic poison. It's a corrosive gas, like fluorine, which is used to etch glass. And when oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells - say, around three billion years ago - it created a crisis for all other life on our planet. Those plant cells were polluting the environment with a deadly poison. They were exhaling a lethal gas, and building up its concentration. A planet like Venus has less than one percent oxygen. On earth, the concentration of oxygen was going up rapidly - five, ten, eventually twenty-one percent! Earth had an atmosphere of pure poison! Incompatible with life!"

Hammond looked irritated. "So what is your point? That modern pollutants will be incorporated, too?"

"No," Malcolm said. "My point is that life on earth will take care of itself. In the thinking of a human being, a hundred years is a long time. A hundred years ago, we didn't have cares and airplanes and computers and vaccines... It was a whole different world. But to the earth, a hundred years is nothing. A million years is nothing. This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try. We have been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we are gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us."



here are some links to information about Youssif if you're interested. Be warned, the pictures are really sad and disturbing.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/23/iraq.boyfolo/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/29/youssif.surgery/