I was watching The Day the Earth Stood Still the other day. In the movie, the human race has been planned to be killed off by aliens because the aliens want to save Earth from the destruction the humans are causing to the planet. At one point, a certain idea was brought up that got me thinking.
When we are put in a situation where a privilege is being taken away from us as a consequence of our behaviour, our response will be to change that behaviour, so as to not be deprived of that privilege.
For example, if a parent sets a curfew for his or her child and the child develops a habit of coming home late, the parent will threaten to take away the child’s priveledge to go out. In response to the threat to the child’s privilege, the child will change his or her behaviour. We can put this in a more universal perspective and think along the lines of saving our planet. Despite our efforts of going green and attempting to pollute less, the mere existence of humans is scarring Mother Earth. This made me realize that I am very much guilty of this as well — perhaps not in the same context, but I admit that I have taken advantage of privileges that have been given to me with trust.
My question is, why do we continue to hurt our planet or neglect our curfew, when, in the back of our minds, we all know that our actions will come back to bite us? Why don’t we become more proactive and begin to change our bad habits before it’s too late? Why must we test the limits?
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