A Human

A Human
Humans started out like any other mammal. Their days started with thoughts on how to survive the day. Like a carnivorous animal, a human had the option to hunt for his food. Or he had the option to pick fruits from the trees and have his fill, like the herbivores. And he also had to protect himself from the bigger carnivores. But he was different from the others. He was a thinker and he could communicate his thoughts better than the other animals. He deduced quite early that individually he was weak, his hands and feet alone could not fight nor could he give chase to his prey. So he started working in teams and making arms which could be thrown at the prey. The arms started from the very basic ones like stones to sharpened ones like spears. The first great revolution happened when he could start and control the fire. Meat cooked over the fire not only tasted better but it was better digested too. And then one day he thought of growing his own food by planting the edible fruit and vegetable bearing trees and crops. This was bad news for the other animals since now humans started clearing the forests for growing trees, which could feed mostly himself. Once he started agriculture, his need for migration to other places in search for food, also stopped to a certain extent. Since water was his other need, he started settling near water bodies like rivers. Now he had the two basic necessities like food and water near at hand so he started building more permanent structures for sheltering himself from the elements. If previously he was killing animals only for food, now he started killing them for covering himself and his dwellings. His weapons became more advanced since he did not like to venture very far from his dwellings. Bows and arrows started replacing basic weapons like spears'. As more and more dwellings increased and number of humans in any one place increased, it became necessary to have basic laws in place. Once laws were put in place, someone was needed to enforce those laws. Policing was needed but the police started becoming too powerful and started taking undue advantage of their position. Hence a need arose to have a authorative person, who could police the police. Thus arose the position of the chief who presided over and gave orders and settled disputes. The chief had power but this was envied by other ambitious persons in the closed settlement. Ambition, greed for power and easy availability of weapons was a powder keg for conflagration. People started killing people for achieving positions of power. A comparatively sedentary lifestyle resulted in increase in the population for whom the existing resources were in a shortage. And such settlements were all across the earth's face. Communication between the settlements increased and chiefs started coveting the perceived riches of other settlements. This resulted in raids being conducted on other settlements. Raids took the form of battles and battles took the form of wars. Winners of such wars were drunk with power and they wanted to keep on winning. Their egos exhorted them to keep attacking other settlements and bring new territories under their control. For this they needed better weapons than their neighbouring settlements which led to further developments in weapon technology. Bows and arrows were developed into cross bows, and many other weapons were developed which enhanced the reach of destruction causing and killing abilities. To further enhance his speed of reaching the other settlements, humans made use of the fastest animals, the horses. Thus was born the cavalry. It was a mean war fighting unit, and the armies having more such units and the best units were more often than not, winning the battles. Asia had a unique animal, the elephant, which was the tank of the olden times. It was used to charge at, and scatter the enemy army. But after a while, both opposing armies started having these weapons of war and were equally matched,  and something was needed to tilt the balance of power. Some thing which could be used from afar to cause maximum damage. Thus developed the gunpowder and cannons. Varieties of firearms were developed, major development of the same took place in the European countries. They also developed a water based armada and were hence successful in reaching all corners of the world riding on the oceans. When they reached the other parts of the world, they found different cultures which were very unlike their own and having many chieftains' who managed their own kingdoms and who were very rich. Goaded by the riches on offer, the Europeans,  on the pretext of helping them, followed the policy of Divide and Rule to perfection. And due to their better discipline and superior firepower, they ruled over vast swathes of land, thousands of kilometres away from their own homeland.
During war time, man was happy killing man whereas in peace time, the animals were threatened. Man was on a adrenaline rush, to satisfy which in peace time, he hunted animals just for fun. While the carnivorous animals hunted to fulfil their basic need for food, here was a man who hunted without any other reason, but for his selfish enjoyment. This resulted in many species disappearing from the face of the earth and this was the result of the firearms which were under the control of man. Thus maximum damage to the animal world happened in the centuries 1800's and 1900's. At the same time , many indigenous cultures disappeared too, again due to the trigger happy man, whether in the Americas or in Australia or New Zealand or in Africa.
While all this was happening, the industrial revolution too took place. While this resulted in great progress, the general laidback lifestyle deteriorated into a mad rush to fit into the rat race. The air as well as water pollution exceeded all limits and over the years global warming threatened 1/3rd of the world's population.
There were great advances made in the atomic field giving many benefits to mankind, but then man spoilt it all by developing the atomic bomb which had great destructive capabilities and then man was foolish enough to use it. Today man has got the capability to destroy the earth more than 100 times over.
Today wherever you go, you are surrounded by the concrete jungle and man has gone too far from nature. That is why when you get even a acre full of natural surroundings, you feel rejuvenated since you feel your return to where you, or your ancestors started from, in the first place.
Man has now played around with nature for too long and since he feels he is the ultimate creation of God, he goes and does what he feels like. He has been a creator, a preserver but finally he is going to be the destroyer of this life giving planet.
So live life in the present without worrying for tomorrow for you never know, when the time is up!
Yatindra Tawde