We’ve seen conflict in Ukraine, Gaza and Iraq all increase and further tangle a set of webs which are unlikely to ever unravel (score one for humanity’s tribal tendencies). We’ve also mourned the death of Robin Williams with BuzzFeed articles and genie quotes, as it was revealed that one of the brighter sparks on this great ball of rock actually found it a difficult place to live. There are race tensions in Missouri, health scares over Ebola, and Julian Assange pissing journalists’ time up the wall.
All pretty hectic considering the summer is supposed to be a time for relaxing. But, while the world is busy arguing over land, viruses, and generally throwing crap at one another, it’s been left to the usually less tactful medium of television to impart the wisdom that puts it all into perspective.
For this month was the month in which the Discovery Channel celebrated its infamous Shark Week. And head of the programmes which piqued my interest was the mockumentary “Megalodon: The New Evidence.” Obviously a spoof mega-shark story suggesting that megalodon still lives but also a reminder of just how mental our planet is. While megalodon is extinct now, a 60ft species once swam the waters of this world and dined out on whales. That takes some pretty vast, deap oceans.
Also in the news this week is the warning to airlines of seismic activity under a volcano in Iceland, which could cause disruption in Europe along the lines of the 2010 ash cloud. That’s nature doing its thing and causing havoc with the aviation technology we’ve done so brilliantly to develop (not sarcasm).
A little less colossal but equally relevant is the news story of a man being killed by a 15ft salt water croc while fishing in Australia (I saw it on the BBC not the Mail Online, before you ask). Is that not a little crazy? We’re busy squabbling over ancient divides while a creature that predates humanity gives us a reminder of what’s out there on this Earth; whether that be in the deepest depths of the ocean, or in remote untouched tribes.
Sat in my air conditioned office, I’m feeling a little dwarfed.
And it’s not just our geography that is awesome. While it might be our inherent tribalism that means we as a race are constantly at odds with another, the differences between humans across the planet is equally alienating and inspiring at the same time.
Bear with me here, because things are going to get a bit ‘out there’. Having watched Dolly Parton live earlier this summer (yes, I’m making a Dolly Parton analogy), I decided I’d find out a little more about her by watching one of BBC Four’s documentary series on country music. To see the basic lifestyle on the farm on which she was raised in the Great Smoky Mountains, and to think that life existed in western society less than 70 years ago, baffles me. Out there in the world there are tribes living in the Amazon (along with giant snakes), there are Iraqis residing in temporary shelters on the side of a mountain, and there are tiny creatures foraging around in the dark beneath the ground.
The News at Ten might be a daily reminder about how crappy we are as a human race. And the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia tweeting this might be slightly terrifying:
But Earth is a pretty amazing place to exist, and we shouldn’t forget to celebrate it. I’ll end with a horribly cheesy Robin Williams quote (it only seems right) lifted straight from one of my all-time favourite films, Hook:
“To live would be an awfully big adventure.”
Amongst all the conflict that happens on this temporary celestial object, we shouldn’t forget that.
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