No Contract with Nature

 

Woe is us. 

Our numbers went bad.

The entire universe and all of its parts

are awesomely beautiful,

but we have no contract with Nature.

She does not keep a list of priorities,

just her lonesome laws and the detectable process

that we call cause and effect.

The causes are the problem, that's for sure.

They come at us fast, from a great distance,

or hidden, they hang out and watch us, amused.

We are the entertainment for microbes, protozoans.

The ladder-like food chain is an anthropomorphism.

The real path is an endless circle, where the largest

monsters of the planet, the whales and the grizzly bears,

reach old age and become dinner for the huddled masses

of bacteria and viral specks that are undecided as to

whether they choose to be life or something quirky that

is not life, really, but not death, because it thrives on death.

One can imagine a superior intelligence that

wanders the universe looking to see if there is

something new; or is it always more of the same?

They pause here when an observant passenger shouts out

"Hey!  Look here!  Mushrooms that walk around on two legs.

What are they doing?

They sure do consume just about everything quickly.

Could we use them in some way?

Should we stop and investigate?"

"No."  The captain says.

"We don't want to get involved.

We do not even know if they are conscious.

They do not appear to be guided by a rational mind.

We can return in time and see what happens here.

As usual, they will leave some kind of record behind,

evidence of their past and the final outcome of

their empire of themselves and their significance."

 

               John C. Medeiros,  March 2020