We are a species living in the 21st
century, a species called homo sapiens, in other words human beings.
Our world revolves on fast moving wheels.
We pride ourselves in having what we call the sixth
sense. We proclaim that we are the masters of the world. On one hand our
science and technology has grown so much that we can be sure that we have
achieved a kind of immunity against all possible dangers. We have wondrous
machines which we use as a proof of our supremacy. The human race, we all have
to agree, is God’s greatest creation or Science’s best selection, call it
whatever you want.
While we claim that our minds have grown and that we
have come a far way from the last century, let us ponder for a moment, upon our
so called cleverness. Hypothetically speaking, let’s say, we have been pushed
back in time, around two centuries. How many of us can build the commodities
that we use today? Do we know how to make a refrigerator? An air conditioner? A
cell phone? We learn science and application oriented subjects, we attend
workshops, create complex hacking codes, yet we do not know anything that will
help us survive if there was no electricity.
Our survival has been ensured by our genetic
sequence. This is what science says. We are taught that our hearts are merely
blood pumping machines. Compassion, love and all such emotions are triggered by
nerve signals to our brains. Yet, why do we “feel” our heart break or melt in a
metaphorical sense at least? I am sure there must be a scientific reason for
that too.
Let me elaborate on an incident that “melted” my
heart, recently. That is saying something, because I had all but lost faith in
humanity and had a cynical attitude towards all the emotion and drama of daily
life. On the 15th of August, 2013, I visited an orphanage with a
group of my fellow engineers. We had a lot of fun interacting with the kids,
teaching them and playing with them. There was a little girl, four years of
age. She was very shy and we all wanted to hold her and play with her. I sat
alone watching her for a while. She was walking on her knees. When I spoke the
other kids, they told me, she couldn’t walk. She was born with a disorder that
had crippled her legs. I kept watching her, entranced by her smile. She went
crawling to the place where we had left our slippers and she tried to fit the
slippers on her knees. It hit me then that to this child, her knees are her
feet, and she must have wanted to try on slippers, just like the others. This
incident had a deep impact on the way I saw life.
What is the point of science, if that girl can’t try
on pretty little slippers? Yes, we have come a long way in the field of
medicine and regenerative tissue engineering, but what use is that if it cannot
help a poor child who probably tries to stand on her legs, every single day.
We call ourselves engineers because we can build
skyscrapers, crack codes or make cars. But if we were thrown back in time, with
no electricity, no gadgets, our existence will not depend on money. If we are
to live, truly live and not just merely survive, what we need is humanity. If
any of you doctors, engineers and scientists want to work on something you
truly believe in, do it not for the money you might earn or for the patents to
add to your name. Do it for a fellow human in need, invent for the sake of
humanity. As for me, I would love to watch that little girl try on slippers on
her feet someday. Hopefully someday soon.
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