This is where eschatology, the end of days, meets scatology, the study of crap!
A number of articles point out that for the first time in history, human litter has reached areas of the planet not yet visited by humans, such as the seabeds and abysses of our oceans.
Sad case for humanity, no doubt about it. Here we are, toiling away on the surface of the planet, engaged in our noble endeavors, as every nook and cranny of the planet gets stuffed with our waste.
Talk about sending out the wrong kind of message. The wrong kind of ambassadors.
‘Greetings! We Come With Shit.’
Consider first contact — the meeting of two cultures previously unaware of each other. Here we are, the Homo Sapiens, doing our thing, and there they are, aquatic sundry, doing theirs, and the two of us make contact for the first time ever through our biological and technological excrement.
Sure, these primitive aquatic lifeforms don’t see reality in the same way as us, so, no, it’s no big deal, right?
Well, rationalize it all we want, the fact remains. Our shit precedes us.
Imagine All The People… Dangling By An Asshole
Let’s reverse the roles and put humanity in the position of these lifeforms. Here we are again, good old humanity, minding our business on our isolated island when a huge cloud of something appears on the horizon. It looks like nothing we’ve seen before, and smells a little funny too, and feels kinda weird. We’re excited to find out more about it, expecting something out of this world, and we’re right, only not quite. It turns out to be the wrong kind of extraordinary, neither manna from heaven nor aerosolized ambrosia — just a wall of excrement that stuns and suffocates us. We have no way of figuring out where it’s coming from or how to stop it.
In fact, we’re dead long before its originators reach us, if they ever do.
Shitty Deal For Humanity
Bummer, innit? Yep, not just for life on Earth. We’re making a right mess for ourselves, urinating and defecating and in general terms spewing waste — all the time, everywhere — where we live and breathe, splish-splashing away like high-tech hogs, like amoeba in still waters. Like organisms that haven’t discovered health and hygiene yet.
Guess what! After a while, the waste piles up. The surrounding environment is unable to absorb and break down what we spew, and our waste management systems can’t keep up with the pace.
What does that mean in practical terms?
We’re wallowing in our own scum.
Planet Ahoy! (Packed With Yuck)
I haven’t yet driven the point home? Let me elaborate! Consider the situation from a bird’s-eye point of view: spread your wings and fly high, high in the blue sky, until it turns black and cold, devoid of oxygen — stop . . . turn around . . . look at our glimmering blue-white Earth, as if you were an alien looking down at a newly discovered planet. You’ll realize that this planet is home to a species that has taken over the proceedings, dominating all other life. See us? Good!
Now look a little closer and you realize that this species is filthy. It goes to ‘the bathroom’ willy-nilly, species-wise, with no regard for itself or its surroundings, stashing away its industrial — and all kinds of — refuse wherever it can, pretending nothing’s there — that the toxins from its garbage and sewage and heavy metal signatures aren’t getting recycled into its food, water and ventilation systems.
Filthy, Filthy, Filthy! (Our House, In Which We Defecate…)
I could call it quits here, but I won’t. Here’s a different example for you to consider if you’re a down-to-earth individual, or averse to the hyperbole of sci-fi. Forget aliens. Imagine Earth as a house, a big, roomy house with a garden. Now consider this establishment’s tenants, a lively and boisterous bunch who work hard and party harder. Amazing as these people are, they have a quip. They like to pee, shit, binge and purge in the basement and garden. (Awful, I know.) They do their business wherever they can: behind the washing machine and fridge. In the air ventilation shafts and the water reservoir. In the drawers of the unused desk in the attic, in the closet room underneath the staircase, in metal containers stacked around the house, even in the bath tub.
They also enjoy taking a dump in the neighbor’s backyard and on the surrounding front lawns and back alleys.
You may find the analogy overstretched, firstly because you have to reimagine Earth House as Earth Neighborhood; secondly, because it’s distressing to consider humanity in such a manner. Thirdly, you’re never going to look at houses the same way again, wondering what goes on inside them when the doors close and the curtains fall.
Why a house? Consider Earth’s Planet and its environmental dynamic, known as the Ecology. ‘Eco’ stands for ‘House.’
Need I say more?
Homo Filthiens
Whichever way you look at it, the facts remain. Humanity is a filthy life-form that dumps its waste all over the place. It’s in danger of dying from asphyxia, poisoning, or septicemia. Septicemia is what happens when an organism’s bloodstream i.e. the life-giving fluid of the organism, becomes infected with excrement, usually its own.
With the planet’s nooks and crannies overflowing with waste, I’d say we’re turning septicemic, fast.
What a way to go, y’all! Poisoned and drowned in our own filth.
Talk about a fall from grace!
From your truism-focused Spin Doctor,
Eyes open, nostrils shut.
