Troublesome Tourists
The earth has been around for about 4.5 billion years.
Human beings, in their modern anatomical form, have been around for 200,000 years.
If you consider the entire lifetime of earth so far as a day comprising 24 hours, humans have been around for about 4 seconds.
Bacteria have been around for about 3.5 billion years (19 hours). Algae have been around for about 1 billion years (5 hours). Sea sponges have been around for about 800 million years (4 hours). Jellyfish have been around for over 500 million years (2.5 hours). Even cockroaches have been around for over 300 million years (1.5 hours).
Imagine for a moment that the earth is a beautiful resort where there are lots of near “permanent” residents who have been living for years together in reasonable harmony. Temporary tourists – who stay for a few days – come and go. Some tourists are decent folks, some tourists are troublesome and mess up the place.
The permanent residents occasionally meet and discuss about the troublesome tourists and the way they mess up the place. The head of the resort, a wise man, always tells them, “Friends, don’t worry. They will soon be gone. And we will tidy up the place again.” Just as he said, most tourists were gone soon. And again, just as he said, they got the resort tidied up, over and over again.
The latest tourists to the resort, a bunch calling themselves homo sapiens, appeared to be creating serious trouble. At the most recent meeting, the permanent residents raised the issue. The wise head once again said, “Don’t worry, friends. They too will be gone soon.”
But they were worried. The latest tourists were far more sophisticated than anyone else they had seen so far. They weren’t just messing up the place – they seemed to be intent on owning it, and destroy whoever stood in their way.
What do you think will happen?
Will the troublesome tourists be gone soon, like many others earlier? Or will they continue messing up the place, subjugate the permanent residents and end up owning and ruling the resort?
See my LinkedIn post on this topic
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