Survival at the Cost of My Dignity

BY: Sumera B. Reshi

“Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren’t satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other,” said Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where.

Who said hunter-gatherers were prehistoric nomadic people? I don’t believe the trend has died down. It persists subtly in camouflage even today. With the advent of human beings in this planet once the dinosaurs were wiped out after a meteoric hit and once the large land mass called Gondwana experienced the tectonic shift, drifting continents apart, humans thrived, ruled all over the planet and let to be ruled by his own race – called Homo sapiens. Man, in general, was an inventor, discoverer and an architect of his future race.  He became the master as well as a subordinate, superior and inferior among his own lot, he became benevolent as well as a tyrant. He became an intrinsic part of God’s great plan. He became the cynosure of all eyes among God’s other creation, he became what is called a human being with a rational and logical mind. According to theology, the man was thrown out of the Eden stark nude, empty-handed and hungry but with gigantic urges. The moment he landed on the earth, his goal was to fill his belly, to get rid of those hunger cramps and feel full. Thus, he started the hunt to curb the hunger. This was his first battle which ultimately led to the first discovery followed by the chain of inventions. It is plausible to say, man is born creative or the God make him so in order to fulfil his great plan.

The fire of hunger was so intense that he could see nothing before it. So, he set his gaze everywhere at 360 angles rather than 180 or 90 which is his actual range. Man’s determination to control his hunger was such that he roamed around in all directions without fearing anyone just to get a morsel of food which could calm down the fight going on in his body. Though he wasn't good at aim, yet with precision, he killed an animal and ate him raw. This satisfied his belly and pacified his internal organs. This was the first time, he felt at ease after he was thrown out the Eden.  Once he was full, he relaxed under the shade of a lush green tree. This was an initiation of man’s struggles and strives of which he was unaware of. The story of a prehistoric man might seem like mundane pages from the history of a man, but this episode set a precedent for his future. His struggle even for a morsel of food was a very important event of God’s great plan.

To snuff out the fire of hunger, the man started hunting and food gathering as a full-time profession. Time went on and man progressed in leaps and bounds, discoveries were followed by more discoveries and inventions led to further invention. Homo sapiens became the de facto rulers of the cosmos. He uncovered the mysteries of nature even tried to alter it as well. To unearth the treasures of nature, man forgot to nurture nature. Yet the mad race to control the resources changed man’s outlook. It has been said that hunting and gathering societies largely died out with the onset of the Neolithic Revolution, nonetheless, the man never ceased hunting and gathering.

Undoubtedly, man explored the outer spaces, beat the speed, controlled hidden resources of nature and ultimately proved he is one amongst God’s best creations. He proved his acumen with the theory of relativity, laws of gravitation and acted a part of god by eradicating chronic disease yet he couldn’t get out of his hunting and gathering mania. This initial profession which he did with utmost precision is still with him and will be until he vanishes in the thin air of this cosmos.

The man was and is a hunter and a gatherer even today when he has challenged the god in more than one way. I also belong to the phylum Homo and Species Sapiens and I am also a hunter and a gatherer. I always dream of hunting the best and gathering all of it. Every day, I start my hunt at 6.00 am and when I am all done for the day, I reach my resting place, you call it villa and ancients – cave when the sun is no more visible.  I gather and save resources at the bank, not in a box beneath the earth’s crust. This hunting and gathering goes on each day, 24X7 a week, 12 months a year in a continuous circle of 365 days. This hunting and gathering ate up my life and I forgot when I left my childhood behind, entered the most vibrant and dazzling phase of my youth. In this rat race of hunting, I forgot, I am now old. My bones are fragile, scrawny and exhausted. My hair grey and face full of wrinkles. I am limping and nervous and have caught cataract. Over the years, I have lost precision and sharpness of my first ever skill once I opened my eyes in this mortal world not knowing what is in offing. I search for hunting, I have lost my grandeur and respectability. To hunt and to gather, I lose my dignity each day, each hour, 24x7 a week and 12 months a year. Yet my search for hunt and gathering goes unabated. In an urge to hunt and gather the best, I have become a ferocious animal. To get myself identified, I mar someone else’s identity and pride. This is what I witness every day and I am also a part of this hunting-gathering humiliation. Israelmore Ayivor, an inspirational writer once wrote, “To a hungry person, every bitter food is sweet. When the preferable is not available, the available becomes preferable!” This is what often happens to me and this is what I have seen all around during a span of 365 days a year. Somewhere, some mediocre takes the credit of the hard work I put in, why because the forest belongs to him and he is the ultimate king.