It’s been very, very cold for a long time. It is not the mariner’s season with its incessant snow, bitter winds and short days. He, too, has a cold that has lingered for weeks. Where are the palm trees, green grass and colorful flowers? He’s asked that before but repeats it for emphasis.
The mariner has conjured a theory that the big brain in Homo sapiens, perceived to be a benefit, is actually a time bomb to manage the population of our species. Butterflies, for Pete’s sake, are smarter than arrogant super-thinkers like Homo sapiens. They know to migrate south when the weather shifts.
The human physiology, a hairless ape adapted to the subtropics, is not very far removed from its fellow creatures on the Serengeti. Other creatures driven north for whatever reason have had an eon or two to adapt to colder zones and in reduced numbers for obvious reasons. Think how long it must have taken the whale to return to the sea. We are young punks who do not know our true limitations. Hence, the time bomb.
That we overcame cold weather that is not our natural habitat is nothing to be proud of. Nature is patient. What goes around comes around. Now Homo sapiens is called the Sixth Extinction. Indeed, there is no question about that as we squeeze more and more creatures out of existence. There are soon to be twelve billion hairless apes roaming over every inch of space on the planet, consuming every resource that can be squeezed from Planet Earth – and having little regard for the trash and global instability left behind, all the while wearing longjohns and snowsuits. However, only with the aid of artificial hides, artificial heat and unnatural methods of transportation have we accomplished this unnatural act.
Nature is patient.
In the grand scheme of things, we are beginning to suffer social breakdown similar to crowded rat experiments performed decades ago. Did we not learn? As the rat culture broke down there was needless greed, theft, rape and deliberate denial of normal rat behavior. Today, it has become more and more necessary for not-so-smart humans to carry a weapon – not only as a deterrent for family and neighborhood violence but just in case the social fabric does indeed collapse. Ask any number of people living in the northwest for fear of their lives.
Did you know our African relatives had fake wars, not real ones?
Nature is a grim reaper. We little smart-assed ants are no match. Even real ants know their place and will survive human Armageddon. Even a world overrun with dinosaurs cannot avoid Nature’s little trick called a meteorite. We should have remained in the subtropics and allow Nature to mind our reality for us. Think how nice it would be to sit under a palm tree, smell the ocean breeze and see the tropical flowers in colorful abundance, with a cocoanut in hand instead of a Mounds bar.
It is a race to the death as humans try to turn themselves into humanoids before their abuses catch up with them.
As for the mariner, he’s going back some day, come what may, to blue bayou…
Ancient Mariner