Have you seen Avengers: Endgame already?
In some ways, it reminded me of the Lord of the Rings. One mission, three parties. Huge battles.
I’m not a fan, but I like science fiction and fantasy. Now, it seems that humanity – or, we can say I guess that if there was any extraterrestrial life, it might be just the same for them – can unite as one only when there is a common enemy for all, who threaten the survival of the planet, of the whole species, and so on.
So just imagine that at our age we really do face real life things that that cannot be solved without such unity. So yes, we do have such «common enemy».
Following the Climate Strike revolution, I believe that the future has started. All that is happening with our beloved globe, if there isn’t any change as soon as it can be achieved, in a few years everything would look like as if Thanos attacked the Earth. Changes in three years are useless. It needs to be done urgently and as soon as possible. Regardless of the complications of adopting a new way of life.
Today is election day in Spain, and I cannot vote, as I am only a resident here, and residents can’t participate in general elections. I wonder what direction my fellow citizens will pick…
There is an old fantasy novel I read when I was about 16 years old. The author is Thea Beckman, a writer from the Netherlands. The original title of the novel is Kinderen van Moeder Aarde which I couldn’t find now in any other languages than Hungarian or Holland. I also read the second part of the trilogy and didn’t know until today that there was a third part of the story too.
The book is not an exceptionally great writing: it’s a utopia from a distant future, after the third world war, where most of the culture we know now was destroyed. The center of the story is Thule, about 600 – 800 years after the global tragedy; Greenland, as we know now. Due to the climate change triggered by the atomic bombing, which led to the change of the magnetic poles of the globe, Greenland changed to a real green and forestry island full of wildlife and respect toward mother nature. The island is governed by women. But the beautiful and original part of the story is how every person who doesn’t consider mother earth a living creature – equal to human beings – is treated as a criminal. And there are no prisons to keep people locked away, rather, depending on the graveness of the crime, the person’s face is marked with a corresponding colored permanent ink, which shall fade in 1-7 years. And of course, as long as you have your face «tattooed», it makes impossible to live a healthy social life, to go out with friends, women or men, depending on your preference… It’s not a bestseller for sure, and it’s quite forgotten by today, though it really is an interesting, and possibly a bit romantic utopia from 1985.
I don’t think violence can solve anything. Issues with our climate certainly not. However, it is more than necessary to treat those who don’t call for emergency, who continue cutting trees and trophy hunting, digging up oil and poisoning soil changes as for example Thanos is treated: the common enemy, who is treating the life of every species of earthly life. One easy way to do this is, for example, to vote for those who care. Or at least, who seam to care. One tiny step today.
And then, it’s also necessary to turn our look inside: as it is said before we leave to change the world, let’s check our own home three times at least. We might as well start with the closest thing we have: our own thoughts, and then our attitudes, and our homes. Because having a common enemy outside certainly appoints to our common weaknesses and hence enemies inside.
As a Hungarian philosopher-writer Bela Hamvas wrote: «Things don’t start outside, but inside, and they don’t initiate in the visible but in the invisible.»
The question is if we’re ready to change, or it’s not bad enough yet to choose the necessary thing for our survival.
We can be all Avengers when it’s necessary. Because «There are no gray areas when it’s about survival» as said by Greta Thunberg.
