I often wonder- has there ever been a generation on this planet that truly lived? That breathed deeply, fully aware of the moment? That appreciated nature not as something to exploit, but as something to enjoy? Is there any proof that such a humanity ever existed? Because in this era, the one that you, the reader, and I, the writer, belong to there are countless scientific studies warning us about what we’re doing to our world, yet we ignore them as easily as a child blows away a dandelion while playing.
In my family’s village, there’s a saying: There is no greater fool than an educated fool. No one knows who came up with it, but in Montenegro, it has taken root and refuses to fade. It’s ironic, really- the one thing truly thriving in this world is that saying. Because if you possess even a shred of knowledge, especially the kind backed by science and hard evidence, you’re treated as an enemy of progress. Even though you were educated for the sake of growth, development, and a better future.
And so, here we are- on World health day- faced with a bitter truth: everything around us is a contradiction, an endless paradox. I hope you don’t mind my bluntness, but that saying still holds weight. If we actually paid attention to the research, to what those so-called educated fools have been telling us, we’d all see the same thing- our air is polluted beyond measure, the damage is severe, and the consequences are real. Mortality, mortality, mortality- on an overpopulated planet. What happens when things take a turn for the worse? Where do we go with all this awareness, all this sorrow, when we can no longer contain it? We spill over, just like rivers do when climate change pushes nature past its limits. And when nature strikes back, the first thing to collapse is the courage in the eyes of those who finally see its power. What will we do then? How do people react when disaster comes knocking? How do they face it? So many questions, and so little willingness to answer them. The ground beneath us shakes, but we don’t even feel it. The earth itself is poisoned – by greed, by a way of life that is anything but sustainable. And when you add to that the mountains of waste, the illegal landfills so enormous they might as well be tourist attractions, the burning of tires for a quick profit and slow death, the rising numbers of people suffering from obesity, diabetes, cancer, shilderns cancer … When you weigh all of that, why does no one ever ask: Does World health day even make sense anymore? Shouldn’t we just call it Reality Check Day instead? Because let’s be honest- our reality is clear. We’re more interested in searching for life on other planets than in preserving the one we already have. I mean, both pieces of information come from Earthlings, yet we care more about what’s happening in someone else’s backyard, even when, in this case, our “neighbors” are aliens.
I don’t know if aliens exist. And honestly? I don’t care. Because we have more urgent problems right here, on Earth, the only home we’ve ever had, the one that has fed and protected us for as long as we’ve existed. And even if aliens do exist, we’d probably figure out how to handle them. But how do we handle ourselves? Ourselves, and the life we drift through as if we’re half-asleep? Ourselves, and the blurry world we refuse to see clearly- the damage we’ve done to nature, and to ourselves?
Maybe this message shouldn’t even be for humans. Maybe we should send it out into space instead. Because to us, words are just words. Empty. Meaningless. Maybe they would listen.
So, aliens- if you’re out there, if you’re thinking of visiting… Don’t. Save yourselves from us. And prepare yourselves, the humans are coming.
Ivana Čogurić
Journalist
