Humans Destroy What They Fear

Today on my evening stroll, yes I go for walks in the evening, I have time, I am jobless remember? Okay. During the walk I saw a group of people gathered in a corner. From what I saw I determined that they were hunting for something. As it happens a tiny snake was crawling in the space and they were trying to find it. It's only natural to fear snakes, but fearing a snake which is thinner than your pinky and no longer than a foot is irrational. If it was me, I'd try to drive it away like I do with lizards. However it wasn't my call and before I could do anything about it I found myself holding my phone filming the incident. What I saw on the camera left me paralyzed for a few seconds. As soon as the snake was out in the open, a man hit it with a shovel and killed it.

That's the tiny Snake

That was the end of the snake. The video is too graphic to share so I shared a photograph here. I was in shock. I put down my phone and asked the man to stop hitting the snake over and over. He stopped, not because I told him to, but because his friend standing next to him told him to. He then threw the snake away, the snake flew in air and landed next to my feet. It was shaking, the post mortem muscle spasms are the reason of the wriggling after death. The man then came and smashed the head of the snake. I could no longer watch the horrifying incident. As I write this I pray that the snake's soul rests in peace and that there are no hard feelings. The snake was going to die eventually, if not by these men, it would be by someone else.

Here's the unnerving bitter truth. Humans destroy what they fear. Animals on the other hand kill to eat or kill in self defence. Humans have the ability to show compassion, to show mercy, to think smart and find ways without succumbing to violence. We don't. Millions of years of evolution has left us ruthless enough to kill everything that comes in our way. To the extent that we are destroying habitats of those who are poor but have lived in the place we want to 'industrialise' for ages. Such is the greed and fear. Politicians kill people who raise their voice against them. Companies destroy the lives of whistle blowers. Builders destroy forests. The list goes on.

Humans destroy what they fear. That's why they killed the snake. That's why we shoot gorillas in zoo when a child falls in the enclosure. That's also why so many species are now extinct or endangered. The truth is we are no longer working towards harmonising with the nature, we are on the path of destroying it and nothing so far seems like can come and save us from this self destruction. Farewell snake, I hope your body at least fed a bird or birds.