What if we are the virus and Corona is the much-needed vaccine?
Biologically speaking virus is simply genetic material (DNA/RNA) encapsulated in a layer of fat. Arguably they are not even living entities and can only reproduce when they attach themselves to a living cell. They instruct the host cell to make more copies of themselves. Their only aim is to multiply as much as they can.
The most successful viruses are the ones who make us sick (like the seasonal flu virus) but don’t kill us. When we are sick, we sneeze and cough ejecting millions of viruses out of our body. If another person is nearby, she may catch the virus from our sneeze or cough. Thus now the virus gets a new host to multiply. But if we are so sick that we actually die, it is a suicide for the virus as well! The best case for virus is when we are sick but we don’t die as then we become disease carriers helping viruses find new hosts when we sneeze or cough.
So why is Coronavirus making us so sick that we are actually dying? An Individual virus is simply acting on the survival instinct – find a host cell and multiply as much as it can. But there are millions of brothers and sisters of the virus trying to do the same. In the process they can make us so sick that we may die. The host dying is not a very good news for the virus as now it has destroyed the very host it was feeding off!
Are we humans are like the virus – destroying the very planet we are living on? Individually, we are all acting in our self interest – trying to survive and multiply. But collectively are we causing so much damage to the planet that we are killing it?
Look at the chart below – Currently there are more people alive that there ever died! Is the earth capable of sustaining this rate of human growth?
What happens when humans vacate a place even if temporarily? Well answer lies in places such as Chernobyl in Ukraine where wildlife is thriving or Venice where dolphins are back
Individually we don't want to harm the earth. We don't think we will take it to destruction. But we are doing it without individual actions that have a different systematic cumulative impact. Let’s not exploit the planet to the point that it dies. The mother earth has enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed. Let's not be the virus of the planet!
Coronavirus Part 1: Need vs Greed
Coronavirus Part 2: Are we the virus?
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