As the world hurtles towards ‘prosperity’ and ‘progress’ and ‘perfection’, we need to stop and think about what we are doing and where we are going.

Why do we still use petroleum when we know that at this rate the future is going to be bleak, why the importance to oil?? So much importance that wars are being fought for it. Why do we continue to bring down entire forests to make way for our homes, and then why do we complain when we get so called pest infestations when we are aware deep inside that it is we who are invading their home and not them ours.

One excuse that comes up conveniently quick is that the world is moving too fast and it cannot slow down, and alternatives are not emerging fast enough. As we continue making our lives more comfortable we are conscious that something is direly wrong, but that thought is pushed away quickly before it starts to hurt our conscious too much, we shrug our shoulders and say, everybody is doing the same thing. I don’t know whether god has said that changes start with thy own self, but he ought to have.

And we are all at fault, I won’t pretend that I don’t use plastic bags, but since I can’t preach without practicing I will try and stop using them now. But thats not the only thing to do, you know. I’ve been blessed to be living in a beautiful place like Goa. It is so very irritating to see tourists and sometimes even the locals throwing bottles and wrappers and all kinds of garbage around. I am reminded of a story I read somewhere….

One day on some beach, the waves were bringing jelly fish onto the beach and they were unable to go back to the water. There were hundreds of jelly fish on the beach. A young boy saw a man picking jelly fish one by one and throwing them back into the sea, even while more of them were being brought up by the waves. The boy asked the man why he was taking the trouble when he knew that he would never be able to compete with the waves. The man silently threw another jelly fish into the sea, turned to the boy and said, “Look, I just saved that thing’s life .”

Prosperity, progress and perfection mean nothing if there is no life….

Think about it. Think about the tsunami, the floods in Mumbai, Katrina and take time to think about the future before you blindly rush to get there first. Before picking up the bits and pieces and carrying on like nothing happened, slow down your life and try and make a difference in the life of at least one jelly fish.