meaningism
an epiphany
a creed
a rite
a ritual
a shrine
a sanctuary
a poem
an ode
a tale
a play
a haiku
governance
Anyone who wishes to produce On Earth Deceived : Life v. Greed may do so free of charge, no further permission required. Please proceed and enjoy! www.meaningism.org

Credits


All of the illustrations used in the play On Earth Deceived : Life v. Greed are received with grateful thanks from the esteemed artist of Hyderabad, Sri Narasimha Rao Pinisetty.

This play is based in part on another entitled W O E (West of Eden) written by William T. Durr in 2011, unpublished. Portions of this play are copied or adapted from W O E. Another text, a Muslim Sufi work of the 10th century, entitled "The Letter of the Animals" which was later translated and adapted by Rabbi Anson Laytner and Rabbi Dan Bridge and published in 2005 as a play entitled "The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity: A Modern Adaptation of an Ancient Animal Rights Tale" contributed background research to this play. W O E and "The Animals' Lawsuit Against Humanity" examine relationships between nature, humans and God in the context of the Abrahamic faiths from a "western perspective." This play, On Earth Deceived : Life v. Greed, examines those same relationships in the context of meaningism and asks the question : Are humans a force for good? On Earth Deceived : Life v. Greed is written primarily from a South Asian perspective and published on the internet in 2012 at the website : www.meaningism.org.

Introduction

On Earth Deceived : Life v. Greed is based on a South Asian system of village justice known as a Panchayat. This system was used throughout South Asia's Hindu regions prior to British rule and is still in use today in some villages to settle disputes — and by the animals of this play — though it has generally fallen into disrepute in modern times.
A Panchayat consists of five village elders. Each member is known as a Pancha. The head Pancha is the Pramukh who is considered to have the most authority. When hearing disputes, the Panchas meet in a prescribed manner for holding 'court'. The village community assembles and the disputes are heard.
In this play, a complaint is made against humankind that questions whether they are the force for good that was intended of them in accordance with a mandate long ago given to humanity by Life.
The following Hindi words are used for which translations are provided below :

  • Dikhawa — to show off
  • Ganga — Ganges river
  • Garu — a Telugu word used to accord respect
  • Hamarapani — our water
  • Hathi — elephant
  • Kumari — Miss
  • Maharaja — king
  • Pallynagargaon — a compound word composed of three common suffixes (pally, nagar, and gaon) used in village names
  • Pancha — a village elder who sits on the Panchayat
  • Panchayat — a village authority composed of five village elders
  • Pramukh — the chief Pancha and village elder
  • Peepal — another common name for a Bodhi or Bo tree (Ficus religiosa)
  • Sacred grove — a plantation of trees and shrubs associated with a Hindu temple or shrine
  • Sri — Mr.
  • Srimati — Mrs.

Cast

Cast (in order of appearance)

[If not portrayed by human actors, some or all of the animals can be represented in various ways, e.g., 1) puppets, 2) papier-mâché masks on poles, or 3) painted on a background screen.]

Main Characters :
  • Gautam (human) — Abha's husband
  • Abha (human) — Gautam's wife
  • Farmer (human) — male or female
  • Narrator (human) — female or male
  • Pramukh (elephant), chief village elder — male
  • Mongoose, complainant — male
  • Pancha Dolphin, village elder — male
  • Pancha Parrot, village elder — female
  • Pancha Gray Langur (monkey), village elder — male
  • Songbird — female
  • Monkey — male or female
  • Bodhi Tree, testifier — female
  • Vulture, testifier — male
  • Donkey, testifier — male
  • Alabama Sturgeon (fish), testifier — male
  • House Dog, testifier — female
  • Venkata (human), testifier — male
  • Chameleon — female
  • Crested Shelduck (duck), testifier — male
  • Goat, testifier — male
  • Anthony Opasa (human), testifier — male
  • Hathi (elephant), testifier — male
  • Pancha Cobra, village elder — female
  • Crabgrass, testifier — male
  • Toad — male
  • Periplaneta (cockroach), testifier — female
  • Wise Whale — female
  • Crew Member — male or female

Animals who shout out brief comments from the village assembly :
  • Tortoise
  • Street Dog
  • Deer
  • Pig
  • Rabbit
  • Elephant
  • Fish
  • Monkey
  • Peacock
  • Squirrel
  • Eagle
  • Sheep
  • Tiger
  • Chicken
  • Wolf

Contents


On Earth Deceived : Life v. Greed
Prolegomenon
Act I : Another Day
Scene 1 : On the Beat
Scene 2 : What's Going On?
Act II : The Assembly
Scene 1 : The Complaint
Scene 2 : A Tip
Scene 3 : The Dispute
Scene 4 : Sorting it Out
Act III : Wrapping Up
Scene 1 : Final Call
Act IV : Suffrage
Scene 1 : The Panchas Deliberate
Scene 2 : The Judgment
Act V : It's a Wrap
Scene 1 : News Story
Scene 2 : Behind the Story
End

On Earth Deceived : Life v. Greed

On Earth Deceived : Life v. Greed

Prolegomenon

Here's a tale told just for you.
It's ages old, about — guess who?
It twists and turns, bores like a screw.
Why should this story interest you?
Some won't hear but those who do,
may find what's thought belies what's true!

Can the meaning of life you have faithfully sought
from knowledge evolved, from debates hard fought,
let arrogance defeat grace, leaving what sacros brought
disavowed by your actions and thus all for naught?
For the anvil of damnation, whereupon greed is wrought,
sears goodness and belies truths taught to souls who've been bought!
[The prolegomenon is recited before the curtain rises. An actor can point at the audience as he says "just for you", point to himself as he says "guess who" and motion his hands in a circle as he says "bores like a screw" or use other kinds of motions and expressions to demonstrate the verse. Or, one actor can speak very expressively while another actor acts out the motions.]
[As the lights dim and before the curtain rises, some animal sounds of the jungle are heard along with part of an ongoing conversation in the background.]
"My point is that humans spell their goodness with one o and all along the way reap more than they sow. They act as though they own everything, they don't under . . . "
Act I
Another Day

Scene 1

On the Beat
[A young couple are having breakfast on a Sunday morning. The wife, whose name is Abha, is a reporter for a popular TV station, and her husband, Gautam, is keen to go with her on her assignment. He is a software engineer and green activist. They are sitting at a table eating. He is reading the news on his computer laptop and she is glancing at the newspaper. He looks over to her.]
Gautam.What a brilliant Sunday morning, a fine day in the making.
Abha. Yes, lovely, isn't it.
Gautam. You were saying last night that today you'll be interviewing some farmers about climate change and their crops. That village, isn't it the one with a temple inside a jungle — an old sacred grove about a couple of hours from here?
Abha. Yes, that's right. Do you want to come along? Today I can show you how I do my work. That would be great!
Gautam. Right, but, well, I thought I might walk around in the jungle a bit and see what animals are there. Is that okay? When do we leave?
Abha. Oh really, Gautam, you're all worried about wild animals when the people who feed us are barely able to find hope for a brighter future? Some of them are even committing suicide you know.
Gautam. That's not fair, Abha. It seems to me there's a bigger problem going on. Everything is suffering.
Abha. [says indignantly] Right, the animals too.
Gautam. Right. The damage we've caused to the environment is a crime itself. What might Mother Nature do with a pest that's out of control like us? Huh? Might we be lucky enough to get a fair trial?
Abha. Well, I'm no pest . . . . Okay, fine, so go talk to the animals about it. I'm talking to people. I don't get paid for holding a microphone to the lips of an elephant! I mean . . . . okay, let's not argue, sorry. I know, it's your . . . . [picks up a box] Happy birthday Gautam! Let's go out to dinner when we get back.
Gautam. Should I open it now?
Abha. Let's do that tonight. We've got to get going. The crew will be here any minute, so hurry up.
[curtain]
Scene 2

What's Going On?
[They arrive to the village and Gautam walks off following the temple trail into the jungle. Abha proceeds to interview the villagers. She is standing with a group of farmers, their faces full of desperation, holding the microphone and explaining why she is there.]
Abha. Hi, I'm the regional reporter for FYI News who called you about doing an interview on the affects of changing weather on your crops.
Farmer.Yes, good that you've come, there is so much to tell.
Abha. What have been the consequences of climate change for you?
[All the farmers begin to speak at once, Abha puts the microphone to one of them.]
Farmer.It used to be that only once in many years would we get either a drought or a flood. During a good monsoon we could make a good living and set aside some money for the bad years. But now it seems that there is a disaster every other year and last year we even had a drought followed by a flood — both in the same year! The money lenders are getting ruthless and really we are feeling hopeless.
Abha.Then what do you think is the solution for a better future?
Farmer.The government has to make good on their commitments. [The other farmers standing in the group voice their agreement.] Years ago, we were all supposed to benefit from a massive irrigation project. No more does the

Hamarapani river

flow to the sea but neither does it flow to us. Others are getting the benefit but not us. You see those hills over there, they're in the way. [The farmer points to some low, rolling hillocks.] They've had problems blowing them up. That is our main problem. They say just wait another year but already many years have come and gone. I don't think the other farmers over there want to share the water.
Abha.Have you given up depending on the monsoon?
Farmer.We'd like to. With irrigation we can expand our farms by clearing those useless scrub jungles, and the animals in there keep eating our crops.
[Suddenly, in the background, a couple of women start screaming uncontrollably. Everyone runs over to find a middle aged farmer writhing on the ground suffering the effects of poison he had just consumed. A bottle lies next to his right hand. The lights begin to fade with a final glance at Gautam who is under a tree in the process of slumping over from his meditation posture — falling asleep.]
[curtain]
[Before Act II begins, a narrator comes down the aisle and addresses the audience.]
Narrator. Thank you for coming to see On Earth Deceived : Life v. Greed. What you just saw, all five minutes of it, was like a normal play. That is the last you'll see that's like a normal play. What every play asks a person to do is to "suspend your disbelief". You are asked to voluntarily enter into the world of the play and what a fantastic world it can be! This world is one in which plants and animals talk to one another and to us. That's all from me for now. So, as they say, on with the show! [The narrator motions toward the stage and runs back up the aisle.]
Act II
The Assembly

Scene 1

The Complaint

[A village panchayat has assembled with five Panchas. The Pramukh is an Elephant and the other four Panchas are a Cobra, Parrot, Dolphin, and Gray Langur. The dispute is between a Mongoose, the complainant, who is representing non-human life, and Gautam, dazed and bewildered, who has been drafted to represent humankind.]
Pramukh. Sri Mongoose, before you proceed with the complaint against humans, I'd like to introduce the other four distinguished Panchas of the panchayat. [pause] Members of the village assembly, along with myself, the elders who shall sit in judgment today are Pancha Cobra, who joins us from the forest floor; Pancha Parrot, from high above in the sky; Pancha Dolphin, who is resting right here on a stump upstream from the river Ganga, and Pancha Gray Langur of the nearby hillslopes. Together, we have observed humans from many perspectives, [The Panchas nod their heads.] over many years, and they are of all kinds. We must base our decision today on whether or not there are enough of the right kind to carry out the responsibility intended of them. [pause] Sri Mongoose, are you ready to proceed with your complaint against humans?
Mongoose. I am, sir. For the record, I wish to state that this complaint is made on behalf of Life from her home of nature on earth.
Pramukh. Very well. [motions to proceed]
Mongoose. Animals, trees and creatures of the village : While we don't know exactly when humans first appeared on the face of the earth, we do know that until a few thousand years ago they lived responsibly like the rest of us. They were born, they raised families, they died, and like us they returned to the soil. To live, they hunted like we do. They ate plants like we do. They ate other animals like some of us like to do.
[The Pancha Cobra sitting in the Pramukhment becomes mildly agitated — she hisses. The Mongoose clears his throat. The Pramukh calls for order.]
Mongoose. As I was saying, the humans, like many of us [he looks pointedly at a chicken in the front row of the assembly and she flutters her wings], they ate other animals and lived in caves for shelter. As some of us do, they made nests, which now they call houses, and so forth. Until recent times, their total population stayed around ten million and, all things being equal, humans, along with all other animals, creatures, and plants lived in the lap of nature. But then, about 10,000 years ago, they began on their present course. It led them to create the disaster that is causing so much damage to all our homes today. Humans tell us that it is good for the earth that they are here, that they alone are endowed with the right to manage the world. It's their privilege and responsibility they say.
[A tortoise shouts out.] As if we're lucky and should be grateful to them! They alone are responsible for the mess we're in. Look at me, do I need a house? Why they're all inside out and backwards if you ask me. The crap comes out their mouths.
Pramukh. Quiet! Members of the village assembly, please do not interrupt Sri Mongoose. There will be time enough for you to speak during these next couple of days. Sri Mongoose, continue.
Mongoose. But it seems to us that over the last few thousand years, and particularly the previous thousand years, that many of their ugliest tendencies have become worse. They've not improved. The biggest problem came when they started to put a value on everything, including us. Never mind the size of the value, it's just that they are compelled to put one. Otherwise, they can't make sense of anything. That means those of us who get labeled as worthless end up getting our habitats destroyed. I don't know what's worse because if they declare you as valuable then you get consumed. It's either hell or processing. Their next problem is that they have to understand everything and when they don't understand very well, but they think they do, we suffer terribly. After everything has gone wrong, they call their misunderstandings "mistakes." We call them disasters. But it gets even worse! What they agree they don't understand they make up stories about. Some of these stories become their beliefs and that's when it can get really weird. They call it sacrifice. We get dressed up and treated very nicely and then unspeakable things happen to us. Now, we, the rest of life, are left doubting our own futures. So, this is our question :

Are humans a force for good in the world?

Pramukh. That doesn't sound like a complaint.
Mongoose. Well, humans were supposed to be a force for good! Now, we have to decide if they really are, or, if they aren't, then we must ask if they could ever be?
Pramukh. Sri Mongoose, yes, you are right, they were supposed to be a force for good. Members of the assembly, before proceeding further, I'd like to put this discussion in historical context. [pause] Long ago, following the last major extinction . . .
[Gasps, whimpers and yelps are heard from the village assembly.]
Pramukh. Oh, sorry for using that word, I'll be more careful. To continue, long ago there was a meeting of the Great Council of Life. They met to decide which form of life should be made responsible for helping the rest of us survive the next major catastrophe. Massive loss of life, of an uncontrollable and arbitrary kind, has happened too many times in our history and too often destroyed the painstaking progress of evolution or set it backwards in as much the same way as an earthquake can reverse the flow of a river. The Great Council of Life decided that one of life's forms should be promoted above all others as a consequence of being blessed with the privilege of responsibility. After evaluating several drafts of humans, the present form was proposed and brought forth as our caretaker. But, as a matter of truth, responsibility came with a choice, the choice of acting irresponsibly. What we see today is that humans may not have matured enough as a species to handle this choice. They should have learned how to make wise choices by now. We have to decide if they can learn at all. If not, we may be on the verge of an unnatural, human induced mass extinction.
[Once again there are gasps and whimpers from the village assembly.]
Pramukh. Sorry! sorry . . . . We can't wait another millennium until their understanding of goodness and responsibility catches up with their power to dominate. We have to decide now whether a correction to their attitude, their greedy ways, needs to be recommended to the Great Council of Life. This is the dilemma before us. Let us proceed. Do we have a human that can represent them?
Mongoose. Yes sir, we do, we found one this morning under a tree. His name is Gautam.
Pramukh. Gautam! That Gautam . . . . [The Pramukh says with a big smile on his face.]
Mongoose. Oh, no Pramukh Garu, not that one, same name but a different man, as different as these times.
Pramukh. [talking to the assembly] The last time we discussed this was indeed a different time. It was an age when we all felt comfortable with humans living alongside us. But we also got our first clues, or you could say our first fears, that what they really had in mind was to subdue, conquer and exploit us well beyond their needs. A holy man among them named Gautam could sense our concern, and he came to discuss our distress. A fine example of a human, among the best, and he said he would work with his kind and teach them to live within their needs and some of them did. But not all of them, and most of them don't now. So, we shall see what this Gautam has to say. Sri Mongoose, what more have you to say?
Mongoose. Just a few more words, Pramukh Garu. Over the last few thousand years, many humans lost goodness, they lost their way, all this started when they began acting like they owned the earth and us too! They even made claims on each other. Never do they have enough.
[A street dog shouts out.] But we have our territories too. I fight for mine and piss to make a point.
[There is a ruckus, the Pramukh bangs his gavel.]
Mongoose. They aren't satisfied with just a territory. The problem is that they're able to live anywhere and everywhere — from the coldest tundra to the warmest jungle. And, it's everything they're after. I'm talking about damming up rivers and wiping out habitats to the extent that many fish, beasts and butterflies have no place to go and so they die off; its about spilling tons of oil along coastlines and fouling our dwelling places with their garbage and sewage. It's about making so much noise that birds can't hear their songs. It's about putting so much pollution into our air that our whole world is warming up and changing faster than we can evolve! Do you get it?
Street Dog. Yes, I get it. [He shakes his head back and forth.]
Mongoose. So, until recent times these gross things didn't happen.
Pancha Dolphin. Then how did it get started?
Mongoose. About 10,000 years ago humans started to build fences. They decided to keep us animals off what they called their land.
[A deer shouts out.] I could hop over the fence.
[A pig shouts out.] I couldn't.
[A rabbit shouts out.] I could crawl under it.
[An elephant shouts out.] I couldn't.
[A fish shouts out.] A fence? Is that like a net?
Pramukh. Order, order! [pause] You may proceed, Sri Mongoose.
Mongoose. My point is they began to believe they owned the earth — all of it! [All the animals in the village assembly nod their heads and make their respective sounds, excitedly.]
Pramukh. [bangs gavel] Order! Order! [looks over at the Mongoose] Sri Mongoose?
Mongoose. I'm nearly through, sir. Once they got in charge, all the other creatures and animals and plants became objects of their desires! Humans began to build cities. They built big fences around their cities and called them walls.
[A monkey shouts out.] And then they made zoos with cages for us!
Mongoose. They created armies that fought huge battles and destroyed grazing grounds. They made animals into slaves and called it "animal husbandry."
[A peacock shouts out.] Well, there isn't any human I would want as a husband!
Pramukh. Yes, indeed, they used to force us to fight in their wars, wicked and bloody battles that made absolutely no sense and the losers would be made into slaves — they even made slaves of their own kind.
Mongoose. But then as bad as that was, it got awful! Three hundred years ago they started what they called their Industrial Revolution. They invented the steam engine. To make the heat for steam they needed coal. They mined coal from hills. They lost thousands of their own lives as they did this but never mind that, they called it the 'pride of progress' or 'price of progress' or something like that. Next, they invented the stream engine to generate electricity from flowing water. That changed our streams and rivers into huge stagnant pools which drowned all that had been living on the land, and their dams blocked our passageways. Many times they even forced their own people to move out of the way.
Pramukh. Sri Mongoose, may I remind you that this is not a history lesson. This is not an anthropology class. This is about whether humans are, at their very nature, good. Come to the point!
Mongoose. May I just come to what I was leading up to sir, and then I'll address that question?
Pramukh. [exasperated] Please.
Mongoose. Thank you, sir. After humans had their industrial revolution, they invented ways to expand it and take more than even a pig could imagine! [All the animals in the village assembly look at the pig who buries his head in his hoof.] For instance, in a place called Bihar, to get coal, humans took huge machines and dug up and threw away whole mountainsides and mountaintops. Gone are the trees. [The birds get agitated.] Gone are the deer trails. [The deer get excited.] Gone are the lakes. [The fish flap their fins.] Gone is everything! [The whole village assembly erupts. The Pramukh bangs his gavel.] So, Pramukh Garu, these are the reasons I doubt human claims to goodness. Animals, trees, and creatures of the assembly, as much as this is about what humankind has done, it is more about what is behind their nature. Humans are living beyond the laws and limits of nature herself. Humans cause the needless and merciless deaths of billions of earth's plants, animals and creatures. They waste earth's resources; they destroy our habitats; they pollute our skies; they foul our water.
[Pancha Parrot shouts out.] And they're very noisy!
Mongoose. Humans are far from a source of goodness, they've become a pest that wages specicide on planet earth! [The villagers are buzzing among one another.]
Pramukh. Specicide? What is specicide?
Mongoose. Specicide is the careless disregard or purposeful abuse of one of our kind leading to the elimination of an entire species. Yes, it can happen naturally, but lately most of what's gone missing is because some of us have misplaced our fate in our faith in humanity. Each year there are more and more humans and less and less of us!
Pramukh. Thank you, Sri Mongoose. [The Pramukh looks pointedly at Gautam.] Sri Gautam, it appears that the complaint against humans is that they have badly neglected, if not altogether abused, their responsibility to other life, not to mention the earth itself, so much so that it is difficult to see how they could be the force for good that was intended of them. Your job is to convince us otherwise and restore our faith in the leadership of humans.
Gautam. Pramukh Garu, distinguished members of the Panchayat and village assembly, I had no idea I'd be here today! These are all very serious charges that you are very right to raise, and it's a debate I agree I must be a part of. It's challenging to be a human. Oh that I were a seal in the sea or a bird in a tree, or even a bee!
Pancha Parrot. You say debate? Debate! This isn't some academic deeebaate. This is it. We're fed up! This is very real to us. We live with the consequences every day. Right now! You, your kind, stand accused here, and we're looking for answers, apologies, changes — a new beginning — right actions. You've got a lot of explaining to do if we're not to ask Life herself to bring disease and pestilence upon humans. By your very own definition, you should consider yourselves as a plague upon our mother earth!
Gautam. Yes, there are some laws of nature that we have violated, [Members of the village assembly nod their heads and chatter.] some species we have eaten to extinction or thoughtlessly destroyed.
Pancha Gray Langur. Thoughtlessly? You're supposed to be the best thinking, the most thoughtful of all animals!
[Some members of the village assembly jump up and wave signs, the Pramukh bangs his gavel and calls for order. The villagers persist and grow louder. The signs read :

  1. Humanity = Insanity

  2. Peepal, YES
    People, NO

  3. Homo sapiens or Homo stupidians?

  4. Stop Humankind Now

  5. Government by the animals for the people!

  6. God — if you like them — take them!

    ]
Pramukh. Quiet! Order, order! Sit down.
Gautam. Pramukh Garu, members of the village assembly, I find it difficult to speak today. I'm not ready to represent humans let alone defend them. Many of the things you say are true. But please, you see, I was sitting under a Bodhi tree next to a temple when suddenly some monkeys brought me here. I need some time to prepare, collect my thoughts, and examine the facts. I had no idea the animals of the world were this upset. Can I have time to prepare?
Pramukh. Very well, we will adjourn for two days. Sri Gautam, prepare as best you can to represent humankind and explain in their view, or by the view of any other life form, how humans are a force for good in the world or at least possess the potential to be so.
[curtain]
Scene 2

A Tip

[During these two days, Gautam spends much of his time preparing under a tree while listening to music through earphones. Just above him a songbird alights on a branch.]
Songbird.Hi there! [Gautam looks around.] Here, look up here. You're Gautam, that's your name. Right?
Gautam.Yes. [Gautam says as he removes his earphones.]
Songbird.So you've got a tough job ahead of you!
Gautam.I guess word has gotten around. You tell me, what possible defense can I make without getting egg on my face?
[The songbird looks insulted.]
Gautam.Oh, gee, sorry about that!
Songbird.Never mind, I'm not here for polite talk. I have a couple of points for you. Gautam, have you ever heard the 'song of life'?
Gautam.Huh? [pause] I've heard beautiful songs from birds like you. Is that one of yours?
Songbird.And we've heard the songs of humans, from their temples to their parties. Some sounds more pleasing than others. But, most of your throbbing sounds spoil the inner ear, so much so that humans struggle to hear what's important.
Gautam.The inner ear? Where's that? You mean something I should be hearing from within.
Songbird.No, not exactly, but wearing those boomphones aren't going to be of any help. [pause] Listen, the song of life is an enthralling song entirely composed of sounds without frequencies that you can't hear without tuning the inner ear.
Gautam.How is that done, and why should I want to hear this kind of song?
Songbird.Walk alone in the forest or sit by the sea and when your mind tells you that a sound is there though it's one you can't hear, listen, meditate transparently, be fully receptive until you discover sounds that together add up to what, in your terms, would be described as the most fantastic symphony imaginable.
Gautam.Uh, but in order to hear a sound, first there must be a frequency. Right? There's no other way.
Songbird.Hum, okay, let's try this. When you speak silently to yourself or think in a quiet moment, do you hear your thoughts, or is it only your words? Right, there are no frequencies, unless . . . . unless you believe in thought frequencies. There lies the door to your inner ear. Now, take the next step Gautam. Can you hear thoughts without speaking to yourself, [pause] can you hear without words, [pause] can you hear without yourself? Who then is hearing? Where [pause] is what you are listening to? Alas, you've found the place of Life's transference. Listen there for Life's messages. The forest and the sea are abuzz with them, they come by way of music, in the midst of this music.
Gautam.Music? Music I can't hear?
Songbird.Right, not the physical kind of music used for dancing, not the thoughtful music used during contemplation, not the soothing music for relaxation, not the spiritual music used during worship but music nonetheless though it is unlike any of these.
Gautam.Does this music have words?
Songbird.No, it's pure music, the first music. This music is the language of emotion, of Life itself for which we can only struggle to find words. It is of the thought that was before there were words that is much deeper, much richer than thinking merely in sequences of actions. Let this music guide your actions. Translate these messages into words so that your kind may be able to understand.
Gautam.Understand what Srimati Songbird? [The songbird flaps her wings once.] No, please don't fly off, tell me . . . . understand what?
Songbird.[said as the songbird is getting ready to fly off] The truths, empathy first among them — they will educate your conscience and help you understand your place among us. Matters of relationship, respect, union, caring, well being . . . . All of life is a testament to interdependency and must not be held hostage to your worship of capitalism that is greed by a few nor your faith in democracy that is greed by the many. Together these practices have left no room for us. Do you love Life or just yourselves?
[Just as the songbird flies off, a monkey arrives with a message from the Pramukh.]
Monkey.Sri Gautam, I have a message, the Pramukh requires your attendance at the assembly tomorrow morning at 8:00 am.
Gautam.I'll be there, ready or not, I'll be there.
[curtain]
Scene 3

The Dispute

[Two "days" have passed and the village assembly reconvenes. The Pramukh addresses the assembly.]
Pramukh.We are assembled here today to ascertain whether or not humans are a force for good. Sri Gautam is speaking on their behalf. [pause] Sri Gautam, are you ready to proceed?
Gautam. Yes, Pramukh Garu. [pause] What I heard two days ago helped me understand that the biggest grudge you have against humans . . .
Pancha Parrot.Grudge? Grudge! We don't have some sort of gruuuudge! You stand accused of gross selfishness and massive arrogance! Just how will you answer to that?
Gautam.I agree that humans take more than they deserve with little regard for the impact that has on you. That, in fact, we often act in total disregard of you. That makes us irresponsible. [pause] Humans are complicated. Our sense of responsibility causes us to plan for the future and so, like some other animals, we store up the resources we depend on so we can be sure they are there when we need them.
[A squirrel shouts out.]Fine, I do that too, but when I no longer need something or misplace it, a tree grows instead. When you guys don't use what you've set aside, it turns into even more pollution than you caused to produce it. You are careless and wasteful.
Gautam.Sometimes we are, but in spite of all our misdeeds, I ask you to imagine a world without humans.
[A monkey shouts out.]I can!
[A pig shouts out.]No competition, imagine that!
[The Pramukh bangs his gavel.]
Pramukh.Stop interrupting Sri Gautam and let him make his points.
Gautam.It would be a world without the Taj Mahal or the Great Pyramids. It would be a world without jets, [An eagle flutters her wings but says nothing.] a world without trips to the moon.
[A sheep shouts out.]Go there! Just go!
[A monkey shouts out.]They've done that.
[A sheep shouts out.] Oh. [slight pause] Then stay there!
[Again the Pramukh calls for order, banging his gavel.]
Gautam.No museums, no universities, no hospitals.
[A monkey shouts out.]And no zoos!
[The whole village assembly cheers. The Pramukh bangs his gavel twice.]
Pramukh.Animals of the village assembly, I am well aware that not one phrase uttered by Sri Gautam explains what good humans are to anybody other than themselves, but it will take time to explore this issue. Sri Gautam, you may proceed and stay on point please.
Gautam.I admit that humans take more than they give. We take more than we leave. We think mostly on our terms and not on animals' or nature's terms. So, admitting that, as we proceed, I ask the members of the village assembly to try to imagine with me a new world : It would be a world where the will of some of our best people becomes the way of us all. A meaningful world where nature is truly revered and animals not only have respect but also have rights — rights that are just as important as human rights. A world where Life itself is worshiped as a fount of ever evolving forms, fueled by the elements, and cherished by all.
[The village assembly is stunned and silent.]
Pramukh.Thank you, Sri Gautam, we hope that is possible someday, but we must base our assessment on today. The testimony we receive over the next day will help us draw our conclusions. Please understand, humans have spoken so eloquently before. [pause] Sri Mongoose, please call your first testifier.
Mongoose. My first testifier is the oldest and largest of the testifiers, a Bodhi tree. It is impossible to bring her here, and so we must have a long distance conference call.
[sounds of dialing on a speakerphone]
Bodhi tree.Hello
Mongoose.Hello, is this Srimati Bodhi tree?
Bodhi tree.Yes, indeed.
Mongoose.Greetings Srimati Bodhi tree, I had contacted you a few days ago about . . .
Bodhi tree.Yes, that's right, I stand ready to testify.
Mongoose.Thank you for participating today, may we have your full name and address?
Bodhi tree.I am a Bodhi Tree from Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka originally from Bodh Gaya, India.
Mongoose.[looks puzzled] Right. How old are you?
Bodhi tree.I am about 2,700 years old from seed, a bit less from a twig.
Mongoose.How old, madam? We just need one answer please.
Bodhi tree.2,700 years old — give or take a few hundred years — it all depends on who you want to count and which you means me.
Mongoose.Well then, just exactly where are you from?
Bodhi tree.I have roots in several places.
Mongoose.What, you exist in different places at the same time?
Bodhi tree.Is that so difficult to believe, or is it that you have to pin me down?
Mongoose.May I ask, Srimati Bodhi Tree, just how do you get around?
Bodhi tree.It's a long story, we don't ordinarily travel, but I've been well cared for ever since the Buddha sat under me for several weeks in search of truth and achieved enlightenment. I'm in a few more places now and planted back in Bodh Gaya where I had perished. Fortunately, a monk had helped me put down roots in Sri Lanka before that happened. I may well be the original clone, certainly the oldest. Thanks to humans, I and my kin have been treated nicely due to our good fortune to have been in contact with this one most honourable man. You could say he was one in several hundred million. Lucky for us!
Mongoose.Have most other kinds of trees been as fortunate as you?
Bodhi tree.No, I am sorry to say, not at all, most have not been able to stay their ground. I have a few old colleagues here and there around the world, some much older, but I've heard through the grapevine of terrible atrocities committed against trees. You should talk to one of my good friends in California who is a 3,800 year old Redwood. A giant among us with many stories to tell.
Mongoose.Can you tell us one of them?
Bodhi tree.Yes, gladly. Four hundred years ago the Redwoods occupied about two million acres and provided a place to live for the Spotted Owl, Brown Pelican, Bald Eagle, Black-tailed deer and forty other mammals not to mention many, many other creatures. But sadly, during the last two hundred years, 96% of the Redwoods have been cut down. Terrible for them and those who loved them.
Mongoose.How so?
Bodhi tree.Over many centuries a balance had been worked out between the flora and fauna. The native humans who lived there also had become a part of that balance.
Mongoose.So why did things change?
Bodhi tree.New people came who had a different attitude.
Mongoose.How different?
Bodhi tree.As different as night is from day. For them, Redwoods were not trees, they were so many feet of lumber. For them, animals were not lives, they were things in the way. Attitude is a big thing. These new people had what we call the G.O.D disorder.
Mongoose.Please explain.
Bodhi tree.G.O.D is short for Greed Overpowering Dharma which is to say me before the consequences, "it's my God given right." In fact, they're so proud of this disorder that many of them worship it in a faith called capitalism.
Mongoose.Where did this G.O.D attitude come from in your view?
Bodhi tree.That's a good question. As we understand it, a long time ago those humans who lived on the northern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea decided that they would conquer all they could. They would take charge of fields and forests; they would mine the soil; they would capture creatures of the sea. They decided that everything was theirs.
Mongoose.So, what did they do to trees?
Bodhi tree.We were among the earliest victims. For instance, the tall, beautiful, millennia-old Cedars of Lebanon were cut for temples, palaces, and mansions.
Mongoose.Anywhere else?
Bodhi tree. Yes, the Romans deforested North Africa for the same reasons. The Maharajas and British did the same in India. Then, what little was left, their Green Revolution finished off. The agriculturalists try to convince you that they save trees by making farms more productive but all they really end up growing is more people who then cut us up for more fuel to make more bricks for their houses and to cook their meals. Even more land is cleared for crops or to build houses for more and more people which also requires more lumber. Another word for humans should be 'more'. There should be a tax on agriculture to pay for growing more trees if you ask me.
Mongoose.Has no one tried to stop them?
Bodhi tree.When I was a youngster and just 688 years old, that would be 2,012 years ago, I heard a story that was making the rounds.
Mongoose.What was it?
Bodhi tree.The story was that a Jewish Rabbi named Jesus might stop the cutting. It seems that he had spent some time alone with trees and shrubs in the wilderness and he often went to gardens to pray. They said that he understood Life like the Buddha before him. He felt very conscience about it all and took upon himself a great burden on behalf of the whole of humanity. He had reached the zenith of empathy and responsibility and was the greatest example of the nexus between the two.
Mongoose.That sounds hopeful. What happened?
Bodhi tree.He was going to try to bring change for trees and the whole of nature by changing the way people think, but his enemies, some selfish humans, got a hold of him and killed him and then hung him on a wooden cross. It was horrible. Then they wrote that he wanted it that way. Imagine that! The problem is that he didn't write down what he wanted. That would have been the greatest use of paper ever!
Mongoose.So, the G.O.D attitude goes way back?
Bodhi tree.Yes, when humans became human they proclaimed that God gave them dominion over the earth and still they keep asking for more in the name of God — they have a profound disorder.
Mongoose.Thank you Srimati Bodhi Tree. Pramukh Garu, I have no more questions. I just want to point out that much of this discussion will be, as Srimati Bodhi Tree just said, about attitude. Much of what is deemed either possible or impossible is really about attitude as the members of the village assembly will see.
Pramukh.Sri Gautam, please call your first testifier.
Gautam.I call on the Indian Vulture. [The vulture alights at the front of the assembly.] Please tell us your place of residence, Sri Vulture.
Vulture. I live at the Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre in Pinjore, Haryana.
Gautam.Why do you live there?
Vulture. It's a nice gated community, good food, safe sex, and we feel respected there.
Gautam.Have humans been good for you?
Vulture.Some are good to us, such as those that take care of us, but their jobs exist only because most humans don't care about us. Humans never used to be an issue but over the last few decades we've barely been able to survive around them. When we go out to do our job we get poisoned.
Gautam.On purpose?
Vulture.No, by accident. I think there's no intent just disregard and carelessness.
Gautam.What is your job?
Vulture.We eat leftovers.
[A peacock shouts out.]You mean disgusting, rotting flesh! No wonder you're so ugly. Fresh meat does wonders for me as you can see.
Vulture.Madam, we'll eat dead peacocks too or would you rather lay around stinking up the place?
[Peacock shouts out.]Ha! [said in an indignant huff]
[A tiger shouts out.]Yes, I remember them too, they used to be such a bother as I was finishing a meal.
[The Pramukh bangs his gavel once.] Order!
Pramukh.[says coyly] Many of us know of your affiliation with death but exactly how is it that there are so few of you now?
Vulture.We are around 98% fewer now, almost gone altogether.
Gautam.Why?
Vulture.It took some figuring out by a team of human scientists dedicated to our welfare. You see, the farmers had been drugging their livestock with a drug called diclofenac which reduces joint pain in order to keep the animals working longer. After they were worked to death, we would fly in and do our job but it turns out that this drug would cause our kidneys to fail. Humans finally admitted they made a mistake and after a couple of years they banned the drug in law.
Gautam.Good that!
Vulture.Well, they banned it in law, that's on paper, but many of them are still using it today. Most humans don't care about us, not in the least, and the few who do are feeding the few of us that are left. Imagine that! We used to be masters of the end game. We vultures numbered in the millions across several species inhabiting South Asia. Still, they haven't stopped the manufacture of the drug, just the use.
Gautam.[sounding frustrated with the outcome of his examination] I am finished with my questions, Pramukh Garu.
Pramukh.Sri Mongoose, do you have any questions for Sri Vulture?
Mongoose.Yes I do, sir.
Pramukh.Please proceed.
Mongoose.Did humans kill vultures in any other ways?
Vulture.In the good old days, whenever we were busy eating road kills, we'd sometimes get run over. Both my aunt and uncle were killed by one of their murder-cycles that run along their paths that they cover over with concrete and asphalt. They race along them at speeds up to 120 kilometres per hour.
Mongoose.Would you please tell the village assembly what is a murder-cycle?
Vulture.Of course. A murder-cycle is something with two or four — the big ones have eighteen — wheels that travels at enormous speeds. We vultures have tried to out-fly them but we always lose. Sometimes the murder-cycles hit animals, even men or women, and they keep right on going, as though nothing happened.
[An eagle shouts out.]I fly over them.
[A fish shouts out.]I swim by them.
[A chicken shouts out.] I can't.
Pramukh.Members of the village assembly, you must refrain yourselves.
[A pig shouts out.]But they don't!
[Pramukh bangs his gavel twice.]
Vulture.You can't tell which murder-cycle will hit you from one that will not. So we call all of them murder-cycles. The murder-cycles travel on paths that go to where humans have made their nests of walls. Wall nests are all over the place.
Mongoose.What are wall nests like?
Vulture.A wall nest is thousands of blocks by hundreds of feet in every direction. As ugly as a nightmare, with a paved path to where they park their murder-cycles. There, the owners mate and have offspring for which they build schools and recreation parks and shopping centers that use up more and more of our shopping area.
Mongoose.Sri Vulture, what is the purpose of your life?
Vulture.To make good on death, I suppose.
Pramukh.Thank you, Sri Vulture, for telling us your views on humans. [pause] Sri Gautam, please call the next testifier.
Gautam.Yes, sir. Next, I call Sri Donkey to testify on behalf of the working animals. [pause] Sri Donkey, may I have your name?
Donkey.I'm called "stubborn" most of the time, sometimes I'm called "Jack."
Gautam.Tell us, what do you think of humans?
Donkey.I don't think much of them at all. They try to push me around every now and then. They think their burdens are my burdens.
Gautam.And what do you do about that?
Donkey.I just stand there.
Gautam.And?
Donkey.And what? I just stand there. They think I'm stupid. Do I look like some sort of stupid ass to you? I don't really have anything more to say. [He walks away.]
Mongoose.Don't you ever feel exploited as a beast of burden?
[The donkey looks back as he talks.]
Donkey.Just who are you calling a beast! I think you must mean mules. Mules are exploited, if you ask me, they are one mixed up kind of dumb ass, go talk to them.
Gautam.Hey, Sri Donkey, you aren't asked to carry all of our burdens, not the burdens of responsibility!
Donkey.Right, not my job, I only carry the burdens you people take seriously. That is whatever you can sell regardless of the happiness you can't buy!
[The donkey leaves.]
Pramukh.Gentlemen, I hope our next testifier has a few more points to make!
Mongoose.Yes, indeed, Pramukh Garu, he is the Alabama Sturgeon. [pause] Sir, may I proceed with the questioning?
[The sturgeon has a noticeable black 'box' on its left fin.]
Pramukh.Yes, proceed.
Mongoose.Sri Alabama Sturgeon, please state your name and address.
Alabama Sturgeon.My name is Alabama Sturgeon and my address is the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers. I am an American.
Mongoose.I understand that in June 2009, a court declared 326 miles of the Alabama River and the Cahaba River as a critical habitat. Is that correct?
Alabama Sturgeon.Yes. Actually it is 245 miles of the Alabama River and 45 miles of the Cahaba River.
Mongoose.Well, that doesn't add up does it? Was there any objection to this ruling?
Alabama Sturgeon.Yes, there was.
Mongoose.Please describe it.
Alabama Sturgeon.The first thing that happened is that industry declared this place as critical to them and declared that we do not exist.
Mongoose.Did you take offense to that? How did it make you feel?
Alabama Sturgeon.We were all insulted! Perhaps they declared we do not exist because over the last ten years 80% of our population has been caught from over fishing.
Mongoose.Is that the official reason for why it was claimed that you do not exist?
Alabama Sturgeon. No. What they claim is that we are the same as the Mississippi Shovelnose Sturgeon. Imagine that! How would you like to be called a shovelnose?
Mongoose.Pramukh Garu, on behalf of the Shovelnose Sturgeon, I ask the assembly to ignore that last comment.
Pramukh.Yes indeed.
Mongoose.Sri Alabama Sturgeon, have you ever been personally injured or offended by a human?
Alabama Sturgeon.Yes I have.
Mongoose.Please describe what happened.
Alabama Sturgeon.In 2007, I was caught and examined extensively. Then a scientist extracted millions of sperm from me. Then he placed this [here the sturgeon holds up his left fin] tracking device on my fin.
Mongoose.Did you give consent for either procedure?
Alabama Sturgeon.No sir.
Mongoose.What happened?
Alabama Sturgeon.Well, they kept track of me for a year — most of 2008. But during that year I was having an affair. Imagine being tracked while you're, you know, surfing the waters so to speak. So, somehow I managed to disable the battery. Then I heard about this assembly and asked if I could come and testify.
Mongoose.Since you are out of the water, how are you breathing? Don't you require water?
Alabama Sturgeon.[says with a big grin] Yesterday, I took a very deep breath.
Mongoose.So, your existence has been denied; your sperm has been taken; then you were involuntarily attached to this tracking device and your privacy was violated.
Alabama Sturgeon.That's about it.
Mongoose.Sri Alabama Sturgeon, what is the purpose of your life?
Alabama Sturgeon.I love the water — especially if it is clean and clear. I love the tadpoles in the spring. I love the sun warming the water in April. I love the autumn leaves that float until they get soaked and then sink to the bottom and make river mud.
Mongoose.I asked you what is the purpose of your life?
Alabama Sturgeon.Well, I just live. I never thought about that.
Mongoose.[turns toward Gautam] Your turn.
Gautam.Sri Alabama Sturgeon, would you describe yourself as a litigious fish?
Alabama Sturgeon.I don't understand.
Gautam.My research shows that you've been in court over fifteen times. Is that correct?
Alabama Sturgeon.I have been in court many times but not because I violated laws. It was because of what, in all due respect, your people have done to us.
Gautam.Well, in the year 2000, the American Secretary of the Interior took the Fish and Wildlife Service to court claiming that it had violated the Endangered Species Act. And on May 24, 2002, in the Northern District Court of the U.S. Federal Court in Birmingham, with an amicus curiae filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation, you were in court again.
Mongoose.Pramukh Garu, the number of times that either the testifier or his species has been in court is irrelevant. Please cease this line of questioning.
Pramukh.[looking at Gautam] What do you say?
Gautam.Pramukh Garu, what I am pointing to is this : There are also humans who have the Alabama Sturgeon's best interests at heart.
Mongoose.As in all grilled up for their bellies!
[Gautam stares at the Mongoose.]
Gautam.Sri Sturgeon, have you ever heard of Ray Vaughn?
Alabama Sturgeon.Yes, he's the talk of the Alabama River fish.
Gautam.And what do you know about him?
Alabama Sturgeon.That he is our friend.
Gautam.That is correct. [pause] Pramukh Garu, I would like to point out that Ray Vaughn, an environmental lawyer in Montgomery in the year 2000, sued the Fish and Wildlife Service and began the actions on behalf of the Alabama Sturgeon who we are discussing. Animals do have some very good friends. They are special people among the human race. Today, the river is a better habitat for the fish because of people like Ray Vaughn.
Pramukh. That was fascinating testimony. I hope we can find more testifiers with stories like those of Sri Alabama Sturgeon. Thank you Sri Alabama Sturgeon.
Gautam.Pramukh Garu, man's best animal friend would like to speak next.
Pramukh.What animal is that?
[A house dog steps forward.]
[A wolf shouts out.]Oh, of course, a dog, you dogs are everywhere they are. You're just like them! Practically inseparable.
[A street dog shouts out.]No, not all of us are like that! I'm a dog of the street, the Alpha on Centre & Main to be exact, and that's no dog standing there, that bitch is a P.E.T., a Pathetic Egocentric Traitor. Sure she is going to tell you how much she loves humans, all pets do.
House dog.You shush, you jealous mutt. I am a proper house dog and proud of it.
Pramukh.[bangs gavel] Order. Order!
[The wolf shouts out.]Right, a pet, a P.E.T.!
Pramukh.Silence! Gautam, continue.
Gautam.Srimati Dog, what do you think of humans?
House dog. Humans treat us with so much affection, surely they must be a force for good. Many of us, the better and best looking of us, just couldn't imagine life without them. Otherwise, we would be as beat up and as bad looking as Tarzan there.
[The street dog shouts out.]That's Alpha!
Gautam.What is the purpose of your life, Srimati Dog?
House dog.It is to be loved and provide comfort. Pramukh Garu, I think humans are just great. We are cared for very well. No complaints.
[Suddenly, a man, looking as though in the throws of death (with a stare of resolute desperation), walks near the front of the village assembly, oblivious to all that is going on.]
Mongoose.[speaking with some urgency] Excuse me, please, Pramukh Garu, I may have a surprise testifier and with all due respect to Sri Gautam, I'd like to ask this person who is just passing by to comment on the human condition.
Pramukh.Yes, that's important to understand about humans.
Mongoose.The villagers tell me he is a farmer named Venkata . . . . Sir. Sir! [The Mongoose shouts in the direction of the farmer.]
Pramukh.[signaling to the farmer] Sir, would you be willing to testify before this assembly?
Venkata.About what?
Pramukh.Your life.
Venkata.Okay, though there is not much to say, and I'm busy on my way.
Mongoose.I'll keep it brief. I call farmer Venkata to testify. [pause] Sri Venkata, may we know your village?
Venkata.I came from Pallynagargaon.
Mongoose.What kind of village is that?
Venkata. Just a place among places, nothing more.
Mongoose.Sri Venkata, do you do good for people and for nature?
Venkata.I most certainly did. I grew the food they ate, and I irrigated lots of wasteland to make it productive. I have fed lots of people and their livestock over many years.
Mongoose.What crops do you grow?
Venkata.Rice and pulses.
Mongoose.Do you find it rewarding?
Venkata.I kept busy, but no, not for the money. I cultivated many acres of land at a loss for so many years that all I ever owned was debt. It never paid the bills, nobody would ever pay me enough.
Mongoose.Then why do you keep at it?
Venkata.It's what I knew how to do, and so I worked hard at it.
Mongoose.Then is it fulfilling?
Venkata.[agitated] What's your point? It's what I decided to do for a living and that's why I did it!
Mongoose.So you are a farmer and farming is you.
Venkata.That's right, along with my family, and of course, my pride.
Mongoose.It's your purpose.
Venkata.I did it on purpose, yes.
Mongoose.What are happy times for you?
Venkata.Childhood, harvests, festivals, marriage, childbirth — these were happy times for me amounting to a few precious weeks out of the year.
Mongoose.[asks frustratedly] Why do you always respond in the past tense?
Venkata.You have not asked me about crop failures, unhappiness, about desperation, misery, worries, insecurities, threats and fears, stress and poor health. These have always overwhelmed those few benefits. In the end, I just lived, existed, like my livestock. Hopeful but finally hopeless, yesterday I tried to end my life. I drank a bottle of poison. My family took me to hospital where I lay dying. If you are asking me if humans are good then all I can say is that most of them are about as good for each other as pests are for crops. Excuse me, but I must get on with my death now. Do you know if I have any say in what I can be in my next life, I'd like to try something else!
[Everybody looks around puzzled at each other.]
Pramukh.[whispers to the other Panchas] Sadly, he forgot to make farming his purpose.
Mongoose.[asks hesitatingly] Sri Venkata, just one last question please. For what purpose did you live?
Venkata.I already told you. I was a farmer.
Mongoose.Right, you did. Okay, let me ask it this way: Why did you come from Life?
Venkata. Huh? Why ask me? I was taught that God had that answer. He knows my purpose and reason for being. You must submit to God. Right? [pause] But, sometimes I tried to find the answer. That was mostly during the happy times, the good times, when enough was going right that I started to think about what was behind it and how to keep it going.
Mongoose.And then what happened?
Venkata.Stuff went wrong again, and so I'd go out for a drink with my buddies to figure it out.
Mongoose.What happened then?
Venkata.Not much. You know, life's not fair. That's what we decided, and it's in God's hands anyway.
Pramukh.Excuse me gentlemen. Sri Venkata, it's how you decide to live life that can be unfair to yourself and to others. Life itself is fair but how it is lived shows how well you have understood its purpose. That's where fairness is determined. That's where problems can become un-problems. There you can find the cradle of love and goodness. Cultivate these for their steadfastness in times of need. Ask yourself this : Do you live life to live off of it or as a part of it in support of it? Embrace, worship and immerse yourself in Life. This is your greatest birthright.
Venkata.Even if that were true, it's too late for me! It seems that I only lived to be used and finally abused. I really must move on now, I'm through, wasted, just finished, it's useless to continue. You see, all I really had left was faith in me and now I'm done.
Mongoose.Didn't you do pujas and pray to God?
Venkata.[says as he is walking off] Yes, regularly. Got your answer, mongoose?
Mongoose.Yes, got it, neither you nor your God was of much help to your self.
Pramukh.Gautam, have you any . . . ?
Gautam.No, sir, but where's the sympathy? This man is practically dead!
Pramukh.It is indeed saddening, Sri Gautam. Disappointing, in fact. Sri Venkata committed murder. Must Life be so disguised by the mask of you upon it that you live in ignorance of its essence your whole life long?
[As Venkata leaves, a chameleon comes front and centre.]
Chameleon.Pramukh Garu, excuse me please. I have a point to share here, sir. I just have to say . . .
Pramukh.[The Pramukh interrupts and asks in an annoyed tone.] Yes, Srimati Chameleon, what is it?
Chameleon.Sir, I have patiently observed humans, and I know for a fact that they cannot live without hope. If they become hopeless they will die of ill-health or even kill themselves out of despair. Hope is their personal caretaker. For me, it's rather simple, if I feel out of place I just change my colour. For them, it's more complicated, hope is the bedrock of the human condition. Since it has exclusively to do with their future, they constantly dwell on how to assert it and in the process screw up their futures and ours too I might add. We simply dwell in our dwellings.
Pramukh. According to Sri Venkata, most humans seem to care for little, let alone show much empathy, even for their own kind. Are humans any good for themselves? I'd say what good is hope then? They need to care today.
Chameleon.Sir, as for their hope, it needs a solid basis in faith. A faith in truths founded upon beliefs born of meaning like our faith in meaningism. Those raised from infancy through childhood who have not benefited from the nurturing of nature, from active engagement with 'the wild,' [She uses her hands to signal quotes.] have nearly disengaged as adults from their place in the ecology of Life and its teachings. Yes, they have lost faith. Actually, they may never have found it. Many of them suffer from a syndrome known as CLUTTER which is the Careless Love of Useless Things, Thoughts, Emotions and Rhetoric. Yet others succumb to a disgusting social disease known as POOP — People Obsessing Over People — they are all the time bothered over the affairs of one another forever scheming even at the expense of their brothers never mind much to do about anything other. As a wise songbird once said, if they can understand the meaning of their purpose and make it their own they will care for themselves today and find fulfillment in their future. Until they realise this, hope or worry is all that keeps most of them going.
Pramukh.Thank you, Srimati Chameleon, for your comment. I note your point about the difference between human nature and mother nature. Let's keep this pretence of theirs in mind. [pause, looks to the Mongoose] Sri Mongoose, please call the next testifier.
Mongoose.Will the Crested Shelduck please come forward? [pause] May I have your name and address?
Crested Shelduck. Some call me the Korean Mandarin Duck, but I prefer the name Crested Shelduck — it's less ethnic. My range is eastern Russia, northern China, North and South Korea and northern Japan — but I haven't been seen in any of these places since 1964.
Mongoose.They tell me that once you ranged widely.
Crested Shelduck. Yes, my ancestors did. They lived around much of the Pacific Rim. I still have lots of surviving cousins : The Paradise Shelduck, the Australian Shelduck, the South African Shelduck, the Ruddy Shelduck, the Rajah Shelduck . . .
Mongoose.How many of your kind still exist?
Crested Shelduck. Many think we're extinct. I [He pats his chest.] may be the last living Crested Shelduck!
Mongoose.Since you have so many cousins, who are not on the endangered species list, then why are the Crested Shelducks almost extinct?
Crested Shelduck. We were collectable. They killed us, they gutted us, stuffed us, and mounted us in order to show us off. [pause] The fewer we became, the more they loved us!
Mongoose.Why did the collectors go after Crested Shelducks?
Crested Shelduck. We are adorable, simply the best.
Mongoose.The best? How?
Crested Shelduck. Good looking! [He says slowly and loudly looking pointedly at the Mongoose, frustrated that he doesn't seem to get it.] Our colors are white and gray and black and brown. We males have an iridescent green patch on our speculum and, along with the ladies, green tufts protrude from our heads. [He nods his head.] Just look at this handsome orange beak. We've been portrayed in Chinese tapestries and one of us, of course, a stuffed male, made it all the way to the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.
Mongoose.So, you may be the last living specimen of the best looking duck in the world.
Crested Shelduck. Yes, best looking, and I deserve the best museum they have to offer.
Mongoose.I beg your pardon. [pause] Sri Crested Shelduck, what is the purpose of your life?
Crested Shelduck. [in a cocky manner] Sri Mongoose, what is the purpose of your life?
Mongoose.I live for one moment at a time and right now I live to ask you what is the purpose of your life. Please answer my question.
Gautam.Pramukh Garu, why does this question have to be asked?
Mongoose.I ask this because humans do not ask it! It never occurs to them. They don't even ask it of themselves.
Crested Shelduck. In answering the question about my purpose, it wouldn't do any good to say that I live for the sake of my kind. We're gone . . . . if I live to be 100 years old, there's no one left to mate with, to lay eggs, to have young. It's done! We're done!
Mongoose.So what keeps you going?
Crested Shelduck. I live for the game! I live for the sport! That's all that's left!
Gautam.Pramukh Garu, may I?
Pramukh.Yes, proceed Sri Gautam.
Gautam.I have two questions. First, is it possible that you simply do not reproduce like other ducks do? That your decline is because you do not reproduce much?
Crested Shelduck. Our last appearance was in 1964 on an island south of Vladivostak, Russia. Someone saw a male and two females.
Gautam.Were they there to mate?
Crested Shelduck. Pramukh Garu, do I have to answer that? What about our privacy?
Pramukh.It's not about your privacy — it's about your species. Yes, you must answer.
Crested Shelduck. Some 'experts' think that we prefer to mate near mountain lakes where we like to go in the warm season. Others think we mate near the sea. What happens is that the female duck prefers to incubate her eggs in the coastal areas. It doesn't take her long to produce the eggs after — do you understand?
Pramukh.Yes, we all understand.
Gautam.I understand that in China, Korea, and Russia in the 1980s that people distributed three million leaflets on your behalf, seeking to protect you. Is that correct?
Crested Shelduck. That happened because in 1982 a Chinese forester ate two of us and didn't discover he had eaten Crested Shelducks until he got back to what they call civilization. The poor man, this was China, 1982, he almost lost his life for that! Of course, it was too late to do any good for ducks. The government only got 81 responses to the 3 million leaflets — but, still, no verified sightings of us since 1964, unless you count the 1991 postage stamp in Mongolia!
Gautam.I have no further questions.
Pramukh.Thank you, Sri Crested Shelduck, you may go. [pause] I have a special request of the village assembly, would someone please testify on behalf of the farm animals?
[A goat steps forward.]
Goat.I would be pleased to.
Pramukh.Sri Mongoose, would you please take the testimony of Sri Goat?
Mongoose.Yes sir. Sri Goat, why do you live, and please explain why you are always found around humans?
Goat. We live to eat anything and everything we can. Humans are good to us and always show us where to find more food. They care for us day after day.
Mongoose.Is that so? Have you ever wondered why you never see any old goats? Don't goats ever grow old and die?
Goat. No, we don't grow old and die, we just don't. The shepherds have told us this and made it clear we have nothing to fear. Death is of no consequence.
Mongoose.Is that so? Shepherds, what are they?
Goat. They are a kind of human who loves us just the way we are. They're not so complex like other types of humans. They even give our milk to their children.
Mongoose.But if you never die then doesn't it get crowded at times?
Goat. Yes, at times, but every once in a while a big group of us is sent to where the grass grows greener on the other side of some distant hill. You wouldn't believe how happy the humans get about that and they don't even eat grass! We do miss our buddies for a while but there's more for us to eat in the meantime, and we know they're happier where they've gone. I'd say we share our lives intimately with humans and they curry favour with us in return.
[A villager shouts out.]You mean curry flavour! [Roars of laughter come from the assembly.]
Goat. What's that, what did he say?
Pramukh.Never mind that. Thank you Sri Goat, you may return to your flock.
Gautam.Pramukh Garu, I asked a friend of mine to come and help explain how some humans make their best efforts to do good. I have such a gentleman here with us today. May I ask him to testify?
Pramukh. Please do.
Gautam.Good afternoon. May we have your name and address?
Anthony Opasa.My name is Anthony Opasa. My address is Cebu Island, part of The Philippines.
Gautam.Sri Opasa, what is your occupation?
Anthony Opasa. Currently I am a community organiser.
Gautam.Sri Opasa, please tell us how you came to be a community organiser.
Anthony Opasa. Well, 20 years ago, on a trip to Norway, I discovered that the Norwegians thought of their county not just as their own but also as a land that belonged to their children and even to their unborn children. In other words, Norway was for their descendants as well as themselves.
Pancha Gray Langur. What am I hearing? Is he telling us that even unborn humans have rights that we don't have in the first place!
[All of the village assembly buzz in agreement.]
Gautam.May I continue, Pramukh Garu?
[The Pramukh signals to proceed.]
Gautam.[looks at Anthony Opasa] You were saying that the land belonged to the children and unborn children. To descendants!
Anthony Opasa. Yes, and I realised that this should be true in the Philippines too. We were taking the future away from our descendents! So I organised the Philippine Ecological Network. We decided we had to save what was left of our forests.
Gautam.How did you go about it?
Anthony Opasa. First, we tried suing the logging companies for breaking environmental laws.
Gautam.And?
Anthony Opasa. It didn't work. Big shots would make a few phone calls and our suits would be delayed; then they'd get lost in the bureaucracy. Or worse, we would get charged with harassment. We knew what was going on but what could we do? Then we went to court with "Minors Opasa", a legal suit against the government for allowing grown-ups to sell virgin forests to logging companies.
Gautam.Didn't the grown-ups have the right to make money?
Anthony Opasa. Make money? Since the 1960s these people made $42 billion from selling trees — trees that didn't belong to them! What had happened was a couple of hundred people got titles to the land. Just like they do in other so called developing countries. And they sold the trees for wood and took the money.
Gautam.According to you, whose trees were they?
Anthony Opasa. They belonged to themselves, and to the animals and to the fish and to the Filipino people. They belong to Life.
Gautam.Belonged to the fish? In the forest?
Anthony Opasa. If you destroy the forest you mess up the whole ecosystem. You mess up the streams. If you mess up the streams you mess up the bays — it's the whole system that dies.
Gautam.So why was the suit called "Minors Opasa" and filed against the government?
Anthony Opasa. We cited the Philippine Constitution. It requires the government to protect the rights of people to a healthy environment. The suit was called "Minors" Opasa because it was on behalf of my oldest son who was three years old at the time.
Gautam.On behalf of your three year-old son?
Anthony Opasa. Yes, the government should not allow children like mine to inherit land that is ruined. [Anthony Opasa gets excited and raises his voice]. With the trees gone, the rains came and there were mudslides and whole villages were buried. Our children were going to inherit a wasted country. [Anthony Opasa gets more and more excited.] They'd inherit a raped Mother Earth and what about the field mice, the deer and, as I said, the fish? [Members of the village assembly yell, "Yea! Yea!", the Pramukh calls for order. Anthony Opasa continues.] And then the media heard about the suit. And they loved it. Now we could not be stopped. We went all the way to the Supreme Court and then we won!
Gautam.How?
Anthony Opasa. The Court's newest member, Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. wrote the opinion.
Gautam.Please tell us the conclusion of the opinion.
Anthony Opasa. It said that succeeding generations had rights to environmental quality. They had the same rights as their ancestors and flowing from that was [reading] "the rhythm and harmony of nature." That included its "management, renewal, and conservation." [looks up] That meant that the country's resources would have to be accessible to future generations as well as the present one.
Gautam.What about the logging companies?
Anthony Opasa. The Court found that the lumber contracts and concessions had no legal basis — null and void they were!
Gautam.Where do things stand now?
Anthony Opasa. By 2006, the 142 logging concessions were reduced to three and our annual rate of deforestation came down to 2%. And new logging is forbidden in the remaining 10% of virgin timber islands. On the night of the decision we had a big party.
Gautam.And then onto Cebu Island.
Anthony Opasa. Yes, our work is never done.
Gautam.[turns and faces the Pramukh] And so some illegal logging still does go on. Laws are broken. The enforcement power of the state is challenged. But it is constant vigilance by the people, special people like Anthony Opasa, and many more, that is required if children are to have their rights. Thank you, Sri Opasa. [turns toward Mongoose] Your testifier.
Mongoose.Sri Opasa, I appreciate your efforts. Sometimes helping yourselves benefits us too.
Anthony Opasa. [looking somewhat puzzled] Thank you.
Mongoose.Sri Opasa, you have testified about people who we animals call "exploiters".
Anthony Opasa. Exploiters?
Mongoose. Yes, exploiters. Exploiters are people who take but don't give back — like the loggers who clear cut all of a forest and turn it into mud! Exploiters are people who harvest fish and reduce their numbers to the point of extinction. Exploiters foul rivers and lakes. Exploiters are typical of most other humans unlike you. But I'm still a bit worried. Even you stated that your primary motivation in all this was for your children's future, the future generations of humans. What about the rest of us, Sri Opasa?
Anthony Opasa. Oh, please don't misunderstand, that is just the way the law works. I had to work within the law to get this change.
Mongoose.Well, that's just it, isn't it, your human law leaves little room for us! It is legislated entirely from a human perspective. We need a form of government that includes us too! I hear they're trying this in a place called Ecuador but it's not going well.
[The assembly is once again buzzing and excited to the point of shouts and demonstrations, signs go up declaring :

  1. Exploitation without Representation

  2. I have rights too!

  3. Quit Earth

  4. Eminent domain is ours

  5. Freeloaders not wanted

    ]
Pramukh.[looks at Gautam] Sri Mongoose has a valid point about your side being full of exploiters. Animals also take but only what they need, and they leave the rest. Now this is neither the time nor place for a lecture, but I bring it up because what is going on here is an expression of fundamental differences between two ways of life! It is the Exploiter way versus the Dweller way. It is basic to the complaint against humans. [turns toward the Mongoose] Sri Mongoose do you have any more questions?
Mongoose.Sri Opasa, I have one last question: please tell the village assembly what you live for?
Anthony Opasa. I have asked myself that question. Is it for my children, for my family? I answer — yes. But there's more. I mean death threats make you ask that question. Suppose there's a chance for wealth — like the offer of a big bribe — it makes you ask? [turns toward Gautam] Do you have to have a reason to say 'no' to some things and 'yes' to others? So, I've asked myself that question. What do I believe in?
Mongoose.And so — what do you live for?
Anthony Opasa. When I realised that I might be the target of an assassin — as happened to Jojo de la Victoria, our former leader, I realised that my life was not just about me. Do you understand?
Mongoose.Please elaborate . . .
Anthony Opasa. Sri Mongoose, I hope you understand this [turns toward the village assembly] I think that many of you will too. Sri Mongoose, it is not I who live alone. [Some in the village assembly applaud.] It is Life that I live with. Because I am an animal, too, life lives in me, with me, through me! To me the only question — the question I ask some of my friends is: Do you get it? [The entire village assembly applauds.]
Mongoose.[looks at the Pramukh and then to Gautam] Let's see if I understand you. You are telling us that there is something out there that you believe is greater than you. Is that right?
Anthony Opasa. Sri Mongoose, you don't have to look far to see that. The ocean, the beautiful coral . . . . then you look up at night — you're on the sea, there's no moon, and you look up and the heavens are full of white gold — it's the light from millions and millions of stars — can anyone think there isn't something more important than himself? How big does an ego have to be?
Gautam.Sri Mongoose, I think he is saying that what he lives for is what he believes in and that whether you are a human or a squirrel, life is about more than nuts. Thank you for your testimony Sri Anthony Opasa.
Pramukh. Yes, thank you Sri Anthony Opasa, it has been good to meet a human like you. [pause] At this time, I would like to explain one of the main reasons why humans were chosen to manage life on earth. As we have just heard, humans learn to become responsible because they understand how it can benefit them as a species over the long term, and that's a big leap from the rather ordinary thinking about doing just what is needed for today. What is more, the gift of writing should have been their most powerful tool for implementing responsibility since it gave them the advantage of learning from mistakes across generations and across cultures. But, like the rest of us, they seem intent on experiencing mistakes anew before they really learn the hard lessons. It is as if they only figured out how to write and then never learned how to read. If they insist on learning only from experiences during their lifetimes then they are no better than us. For us, we must start all over again with each generation, our learning mostly follows on what's instructed by our genes. But humans, they are a special compilation of genes that grows a mind desirous of an education entirely independent of their genes. In fact, they have created an entire learning process that itself evolves independent of each of them. As their education evolves, so do they with it, in fact so much so that they find that their genes sometimes can't keep up with the technology they produce. Even among the best of humans, this progress is where goodness for them gets confused with what they think is good for us. Writing is key to their progress and a privilege they alone enjoy amongst us all. Their body of laws shows what they can do with the written word. We need to become part of that law making. Anthony Opasa has shown us how important that could be to our future.
Gautam.Pramukh Garu, that was a most intriguing assessment of humans, and one I'll think about carefully but at the moment I have an urgent request to make.
Pramukh.Yes, Sri Gautam, what is it?
Gautam.While I was preparing my case, I learned of an elephant who I thought might have something important to say about their treatment of humans, cases of retribution, and mutual respect among species. He wasn't sure he could make it here, but I see he has just arrived. May I call him?
Pramukh.Just where is he from?
Gautam.He lives nearby the village of Thariasanda in the state of Odisha.
Pramukh.You may call him. [Gautam signals for the elephant to come forward.]
Gautam.May I have your good name and age?
Elephant. My nickname is Pachy and my surname is Hathi. I'm 32 years old.
Gautam.Sri Hathi, please explain your actions and regrets to the village assembly.
Hathi. It was early June of 2006, the monsoon had just arrived the day before. I and the guys were happy that the hot, dry months were finally behind us. You see, it wasn't drink, drugs, or some wild party, but, well, I was in my mid-twenties and angry about how humans kept grabbing our homeland. I had a few points to make, you see. My buddies asked me just what was I going to do about it, and so I went in the night and killed a human family. Only their five year-old son got away. Later, when I saw how sad the boy was I remembered how sad I felt when my uncle was killed for his tusks. I decided no more was I going to act like them even though every year they take more and more of our jungle. I think we all have to work together to reclaim what's ours. We know there are too many of them, and we're just being pushed around all the time. We have rights.
Mongoose.What kind of people did you kill?
Gautam.[exclaims agitatedly] Pramukh Garu, what kind of question is that? It's absolutely absurd!
Pramukh. Sri Gautam, no it's not entirely absurd but neither is it as relevant today as it used to be. Killing humans is wrong, let there be no doubt about that, but, please understand, for us there have always been two kinds people.
Gautam.What?
Pramukh.Yes, indigenous and non-indigenous.
Gautam.You mean "original inhabitants" . . .
Mongoose. [Mongoose interrupts] Yes, tribals, forest dwellers, river people, aboriginals, they have many names and they're our kind of people.
Pancha Parrot. I just heard about boat people too.
Mongoose.Oh no, no, not boat people. How can they be indigenous? Why do you think they're on a boat?
Gautam.[says excitedly] Really, sir, just what's going on here?
Mongoose.Pramukh Garu, may I continue with my question?
[The Pramukh signals for the Mongoose to proceed.]
Mongoose.Sri Hathi, please tell us what kind of people did you kill.
Hathi. Tribals.
[An absolute pall of silence hangs over the entire village assembly. The Mongoose is astonished as are all the Panchas. Hathi speaks again.]
Hathi. Yeah, tribals! They had just finished boasting about how they had won their rights to their homeland and now they were cutting up their forest for their ten-acre crop plots — hundreds and hundreds of these plots. Nowadays, it's all about TVs, cell phones, more tech. ed., health care, more of them, more wealth, bus stops and vote blocs. I hear they're even on the internet. Do you really think the future will be any different with them now? Right, they used to be our truest friends among humans but they're forgetting us. They're changing. Teach them a lesson now, I say! Mark my words, their cultural pollution shall wrought our 'final solution'. They have become a cancer eating away at the very heart of our refuges. Soon we will be refugees adrift in a sea of humanity. An absolute apocalypse and nothing less!
Mongoose.[says disgustingly] That's a horrid nightmare.
Gautam.[shouting and pointing his finger] You're nothing more than a goon of doom, an alarmist, Hathi!
Pramukh.Gentlemen, let's stop the hysterics. I've had enough hyperbole. Sri Gautam, do you have any more questions of Sri Hathi?
Gautam.Certainly not. I'm done.
Pramukh.Sri Mongoose, do you?
Mongoose.Yes, Pramukh Garu, I do, one more.
Pramukh.Carry on but mind the time please.
Mongoose.Sri Hathi, would you say that those elephants who work with humans are traitors?
Hathi. Absolutely, imagine being in a circus all your life, performing as an Uncle Dumbo, that's so humiliating. These humans live in some sort of dizzyland — or is it dizzyworld? Whatever it is, they're all crazy if you ask me. When will they get real?
Pramukh.Yes, he is right in that particular case, but not so with regard to some very honourable relationships between humans and elephants that together work responsibly for a living.
Hathi. [says in a cocky tone] Oh, right, sure, I know what you mean. Where's the dignity in that, huh? Really, to even propose that such relationships are honourable, why they're exploitive and simply that.
Pramukh.Do you have any idea how well those elephants are cared for, if not loved, by the temple priests and mahouts?
[The discussion escalates in tone.]
Hathi. Pramukh, or should I just call you 'big ears'? Have you any idea what a pleasure it is to live in the wild?
Gautam.Sri Hathi, I did not invite you here to insult Pramukh Garu.
Mongoose.I think an apology is in order.
Hathi. What? Apologise to big ears there. Looks like you all have no idea who your Pramukh really is. Do you?
Pramukh.Sri Hathi, that's enough, let's stay on the point.
Hathi. Fine then, I'll come right to the point. [pointing at the Pramukh] He's an African!
[Gasps and other sounds of astonishment are heard from amongst the villagers.]
Pancha Gray Langur. Pramukh Garu, what is he saying?
Pramukh. Calm down everyone, I'll explain though I am not really interested in discussing this right now. [pause] A few generations ago, my family was invited to India by the Maharaja of Dikhawa to participate in a cultural exchange programme.
Hathi. "Cultural exchange," how naive can an elephant be?
Pancha Gray Langur. Sri Hathi, enough!
Pramukh.My Great Grandparents liked it here so much that they decided to stay on. Then Grandpa noticed that the ladies were impressed with our larger ears. Our harems became plentiful and we soon formed our own community of Afro-Indians.
Pancha Parrot. I must say, to your credit, that you've always left a big impression on us.
Hathi. Hah, so you think he is qualified to be your Pramukh then? How about me? I'm one hundred percent Indian, not some mixed up settler. Who better . . . . [Pancha Gray Langur interrupts.]
Pancha Gray Langur. I'm one hundred percent Indian too. Pramukh Garu is not on trial here, and I think it's clear that you've spoken for who you are. Gautam, I think we are finished with this testifier. Do you agree?
Gautam.Yes sir, I did not expect such behavior, but I can observe some familiar heritage however ugly it may be.
Hathi. [Shouting as he leaves, stomping his feet.] If it weren't for humans, elephants like me would rule the earth, and what a different place the world would be.
Pramukh.Elephants like you, never! [pause] Please call the next testifier.
[Unexpectedly, at the feet and sitting places of the village assembly, a phenomenon of rapidly growing weeds picks up pace to such an extent that it is recognized by the Panchas.]
Pancha Cobra. Sri Mongoose, Sri Gautam, have you observed the growth of these weeds over the past hour, it's baffling? I believe they arrived yesterday and today they're practically overtaking us.
Mongoose.Yes madam, Cobra Garu, I have and they just asked to be heard at this assembly. They say if they are ignored any longer they may call in the army ants!
Pramukh.Is that so, a rather pushy lot. Shall we hear what they have to say?
Mongoose.Shall I . . .
Pramukh.Yes, yes . . .
Mongoose.[addressing the weeds] May we know where you are from and why you have come?
[One of the weeds, a crabgrass, comes forward intent on addressing the assembly.]
Crabgrass. I am called crabgrass, and I have been asked to speak on behalf of our community. We are the downtrodden from hither and yonder, collectively known as weeds. We have a complaint to make against all of you assembled here. You and your kind keep digging at us, pulling on us, walking all over us, eating us, others of you like the humans try to poison us, we're also cursed at and crapped on. We have no dignity.
Mongoose.Crapped on, since when was that a problem?
[Snickers and laughs come from the village assembly.]
Crabgrass. Yes, we can handle it along with all the other kinds of crap we have to put up with unless you have 'the runs' and make a real mess of it. [pause] The point I'm making here is that we are taken for granted.
Mongoose.And just how would you like to be appreciated?
Crabgrass. Imagine a world without weeds: no groundcover for protection from the hot, burning sun, less nectar for the bees, fewer veg. items on the menu, less greenery, more brown, erosion all around. We are the connective tissue of the ecosystem and whenever there is an imbalance you can be sure we'll be there to fill in the gaps and cover the wounds. We are the doers of good.
Mongoose.But some call you a nuisance.
Crabgrass. Ha, they're just jealous of our success, of course. Let them despair, we don't care.
Mongoose.Do you think humans are good doers?
Crabgrass. They're no worse than the rest of you. But I should point out that whenever there is a natural disaster, and we're on the front lines, we notice humans there too more often than not.
Gautam.Well, I suppose I should take that as a compliment. Sri Crabgrass, I admit that most humans don't appreciate you but I do. Many times you've been my faithful companion while meditating. More humans than not are out of touch with what lies beneath us all.
Crabgrass. Right you are, who needs shoes!
Gautam.Hey, Sri Crabgrass, do you know the food chain sing-along song? I learned it from a songbird the other day. It's a song made for the two of us.
Crabgrass. Why yes, shall we sing?
Gautam.I'd love to.
Crabgrass. I'll start.
[Sri Crabgrass and Sri Gautam face each other, happy and ready to sing. Each one sings to the tune of : DAda DAda DAda, daDAdadaDA DAda of The Mexican Hat Dance.]
Crabgrass. Our roots, our stems, our leaves are eaten by all in need.
Gautam.We process and refine, food must be ready on time.
Crabgrass. Busy bees on flowers make fruits for all to devour.
Gautam.We eat from cans and jars for more we go out to bars.
Crabgrass. Our seeds bring on new life, a food web that's always ripe.
Gautam.Here atop the food chain we've actually gone insane!
[Gautam lowers himself to the ground as the weeds rise up for a joyful embrace. The assembly breaks out in applause.]
Pramukh.Right on, you've got it, we've got it! Yes, I'm afraid most, if not all of us, have underrated weeds, and we shall send a message forthright. One made once before but long ago forgotten for it must be said again that truly the meek shall inherit the earth. Thanks be to you, weeds of the earth, for showing us evolution's most prolific and glorious example of Life.
Gautam.Pramukh Garu, [Gautam asks timidly.] wouldn't that be Life's most prolific example of evolution?
Pramukh.Sri Gautam, isn't that a rather Life centric view of nature? As a human, is it that you must insist on Life coming first? What might underlie evolution that makes Life necessary, purposeful, special, surely it must be something as meaningful if not more so than you? That is what gave birth to Life, and we want to know are humans a force for good serving in a supportive role.
Gautam.Huh?
[Suddenly, a furious storm comes upon the assembly of such intensity that the Pramukh agrees to disband the afternoon session immediately until the next morning. Sounds of wind blowing and howling.]
Mongoose.Excuse me, Pramukh Garu, a big storm is fast approaching.
Pramukh.Yes, indeed, I can smell the soil. That rain is coming from the north-east, our worst direction for storms. [addressing the assembly] We are finished for today. Let's resume in the morning.
[Everyone quickly runs about, and Gautam finds cover under a tree.]
[curtain]
Scene 4

Sorting it Out

[An exhausted Gautam, nestled in roots at the base of a trunk, has fallen asleep and drifted into a dream.]
Toad. Sri Gautam, may I present myself.
Gautam. Yes, of course. [Gautam says though a bit perturbed with this intrusion into his solitude.]
Toad. I am Toad as you can see and pleased to be.
Gautam. Be what?
Toad. Simply the stuff of toads.
Gautam. Well then, good that you are so, and so happy with yourself.
Toad. Ah, but there was a time when I wasn't quite myself. At that time, when I was a tadpole, all I could think about was what I would become.
Gautam. Right, well good to have had something to look forward to then. [Gautam says still somewhat annoyed.]
Toad. But, I'm sorry to say, not all of us are happy. In fact, some of my buddies who were afraid of the unknown wanted to become frogs instead. They didn't want to roam the land for a living.
Gautam. Frogs! What a strange desire for a toad. Why was that? [Gautam starts to show interest.]
Toad. For comfort.
Gautam. Comfort of what?
Toad. The comfort of what they were used to — the water. That was all they knew as tadpoles until they were asked to change.
Gautam. Who asked them to change?
Toad. The call of Life.
Gautam. Hum, would that be metamorphosis or do you mean evolution?
Toad. Yes, all of that, it is only us toads, after all, who go where no frogs have gone before. Those of us who accept the way we are can make the most of Life's call to become happy and fulfilled. The way we are is the way of change.
Gautam. You mean those of you who seek.
Toad. Right, we who explore.
Gautam. What do you seek out?
Toad. Well, sometimes I go looking for Kumari Toad, but the rest of the time I'm exploring meaning. In fact, I'm on a pilgrimage now.
[Gautam is bowled over at such a statement from a toad, in disbelief and at the same time somewhat amused.]
Gautam. I would never have guessed. You're seeking out meaning. Is that right? I have often wondered what it means to be me. I was once a child.
Toad. No, not that kind of meaning, not what it means to be a tadpole and then a toad, or an egg and then a bird. No, not the meaning we make up to explain ourselves or what we mean to somebody else.
Gautam. What then? The meaning of life? The universe . . . . ? I had no idea toads contemplate this. [Gautam says with a big grin.]
[The toad gives Gautam an incredulous stare.]
Toad. Gautam, evolution is an expression of this kind of meaning, one of its best and most expansive expressions. It's this meaning that underlies Life. We search out Life's purpose, our purpose, in relationship to meaning. To exist is to be meaningful. We have only to cultivate goodness as our thanks in return for a meaningful life.
Gautam. Um . . . . that then makes happiness?
Toad. Of course, yes. We are born of meaning you see and our purpose is to be responsible for our actions. Meaning, responsibility, action; one without the others leads to chaos. That a Gautam does not make. Those of us who are responsible find meaning. Meaningfulness in the embrace of Life delivers our fulfillment forevermore.
Gautam. What does all that require of a toad may I ask?
Toad. We keep watch on insects so that they don't become reckless with plants. That's our main duty along with, of course, making more toads. But it's all much more complicated for you because humans are more complex and on purpose. The greater the responsibility you bear successfully, the deeper your fulfillment in relation to meaning.
Gautam. Yes, right, and on purpose. We have a much bigger duty and greater responsibilities. But many of us go looking for meaning in all the wrong places and end up miserable having never really fulfilled any purpose. Most of us have restless and insatiable egos to satisfy.
Toad. Yes, right you are, often your biggest obstacle to overcome. That's what our complaint against humans is all about. Your misery becomes our misery. And if only your kind would be more responsible, we'd all be better off. Could you just go back to your kind and teach responsibility?
Gautam. Yes, I would like to do that. [pause] Toad, please tell me, what is the meaning of Life? Some say it's just to reproduce.
Toad. Reproduction is a rather ordinary function that humans seem preoccupied with.
Gautam. But that is why I am here, isn't it? That is life's gift of me, right?
Toad. What, just a product of reproduction! Gautam, surely Life wants more from you than that. Why should Life merely have an interest in just producing one copy after another after another leading to nothing more? That's mindless but we have minds! On purpose, you see.
Gautam. Yes, a mind with which to navigate the trials of life.
Toad. A mind through which to communicate with Life!
Gautam. A mind kept bothered worrying over this and that.
Toad. Well, it's your choice, you can use your mind as I do or else decide, like some of my buddies, to behave as a frog instead!
Gautam. To be a toad or a frog, that's the only choice isn't it?
Toad.Is it? Why not focus on what we all have in common. Let your mind out the door of your brain, Gautam. Listen, it's not about your life or my life, it's about our lives, about our interdependency. The more sense, the more responsibility we can bring to our lives the better off we'll all be for each other.
Gautam. You mean no goofing off?
Toad. No, I don't mean that. Fun stuff is fun if it doesn't come at the expense of others — that's when it becomes irresponsible and exploitative you see. Empathy should never be too far away.
Gautam. Go on Sri Toad, please.
Toad. Gautam, listen carefully, as a toad I have learned a lot about evolution. I know that for each of us evolution defines, if not dictates, our experience of reality. Imagine the understanding of reality by life that has evolved in extreme cold, darkness or heat. It would be so different from our own. Yet, underlying all of us is Life at our very essence. Life itself is steeped in a reality again altogether different from our own superficial experiences yet it is a reality deeply intrinsic to us all. It is when we can contemplate and introspect beyond our own reality to glimpse that known to Life itself, indeed that which underlies Life, that we can know its meaning and finally the revelation of life eternal. Our fore bearers knew it as sacros.
Gautam. Sacros?
Toad. Sacros is older than Life itself though long ago forgotten and no longer understood. It is the generating and receiving of goodness, the essence of all that is good. It means caring. We must talk more about this but for now I see a rather determined, if not confused, mongoose on the way. I must be leaving . . . . Gautam, we toads have an old verse I shall recite for you : May the raindrops that drip upon us as the Blood of Life anoint our actions with such clarity and purity of purpose that we may bask in the glory of Life's grace and mercy in the final hour of our need . . . . Goodbye for now.
[The Mongoose spots Gautam under the tree as night falls and goes over to wake him up.]
Mongoose. Sri Gautam, wake up, wake up, surely you want a proper dinner and good night's sleep before we continue in the morning?
Gautam. Oh, Sri Mongoose, you're still here? I was just napping and having a dream. Or am I dreaming that I just dreamt a dream? I don't quite know anymore.
Mongoose. Gautam, kindly hurry to your lodge for the evening.
[curtain]

Act III
Wrapping Up

Scene 1

Final Call


[The village assembles the next morning, and the first testifier is called.]
Pramukh. I observe that we are all in attendance and ready to proceed. As per today's schedule, I call our first testifier. Srimati Cockroach please come forward to testify.
[The Mongoose, in a panicky manner, signals for the Pramukh's attention. The Pramukh stares at the Mongoose.]
Mongoose. Pramukh Garu, may I approach your good self for a brief word in private?
Pramukh. Very well, if you must, Sri Mongoose.
Mongoose. [whispers in a low voice] Sir, really, must we have such a low life give testimony on such an important matter as this. This is really demeaning to . . .
[The Pramukh interrupts, visibly upset.]
Pramukh. [whispering, but not as softly] Sri Mongoose, if there is a point you would like to make for Gautam's benefit then just make your views public at once.
Mongoose. [says sheepishly] I beg your pardon, sir.
Pramukh. [turns toward Gautam] Sri Gautam, you may proceed with our next testifier.
Gautam. Please state your name, address, and occupation.
Periplaneta.The name I prefer, my proper name, is Periplaneta. [She carefully wipes her antennae.]
Gautam. And what kind of Periplaneta might you be?
Periplaneta. You silly man, don't you see my picture all over the place? I'm that one, but I don't like that red line they put over me in some pictures. It's not very flattering you know.
Gautam. Your address please.
Periplaneta. My address is right around the whole world, although I prefer the warmer climates. I have no occupation because I don't need to work.
Gautam. You don't need to work?
Periplaneta. Humans are so generous with their food that I have more than enough to eat. While I am forced to share the spoils with vermin and rodents, there is still plenty left over. 75% of the time me and my friends, we just lay around and eat.
Gautam. Do you eat any kinds of food?
Periplaneta. We love dog food. Of course we prefer the moist kind but if it's dry we find stuff to mix it in.
Gautam. What do you mix it with?
Periplaneta. Dishwater will do; sometimes human babies throw up and it reaches the cracks where we are; sometimes there is stale beer — we aren't particular — there are no French or Thai cockroach restaurants.
Gautam. Do you like restaurants?
Periplaneta. Yes, we love restaurants too, especially the fast food ones. Even caterers will do. We like hospitals. Basically, wherever people prepare food we'll eat it. They always have more than enough.
Gautam. Are there many of your species?
Periplaneta. Billions and Billions. We reproduce a lot. We females only have to have sex once (aside : 'That's a break'). We stay pregnant for the rest of our lives. (aside : 'That's a drag!') The eggs come in little pouches of 8-10 eggs, like tiny hotdogs . . . . [Periplaneta is interrupted.]
Gautam. That's enough about that. Are there any difficulties?
Periplaneta. Not really. We love buildings. We have six legs and each leg has three knees and our feet have claws so we can run up and down walls. We've never been known to have arthritis — we never need doctors.
Gautam. What bothers you the most?
Periplaneta. It's when people use pesticides. That's just being nasty. Pesticides don't kill many of us but they really ruin the taste of a good curry.
Gautam. How do you avoid those humans who try to capture you?
Periplaneta. With ease! We can run at the speed of seventy yards a minute. We have our own GPS on our rear ends.
Gautam. You have your own global positioning system?
Periplaneta. That's right. Our eyes have four thousand individual lenses and our tails have motion detectors so we not only know where we are, we know where you are at all times!
Gautam. So, if humans were not around, life would be much tougher. Is that correct?
Periplaneta. Correct.
Gautam. [to Mongoose ] Your testifier.
Mongoose. Srimati Periplaneta, do all humans like you?
Periplaneta.That's a good question. The answer is that many do not. For instance, some of them go to great lengths to step on us. One day I was eating lunch with some friends and watching the movie A Bug's Life in a building on Eighth Avenue when the lady of the house came at us with a vacuum cleaner! Mean stuff, humans can be rough.
Mongoose. Are there any ways to trap you?
Periplaneta. I don't think it would be good for me to answer that question.
Mongoose. Pramukh Garu, I ask this question because it's important for the village assembly to know if cockroaches . . . . [Here Periplaneta objects to the term with a hand signal.]
Mongoose. I beg your pardon, it is important for the village assembly to know if Periplaneta suffer at the hands of humans, as do many other animals.
Pramukh. Please answer.
Periplaneta. There are traps. While we can climb walls, we can't climb glass. So, some humans take a bottle and fill it half full of stale beer and lean a stick against it.
Mongoose. Then what happens?
Periplaneta. Some of the younger Periplaneta, who either were not well taught by their parents or are wild and disobedient, they climb the sticks and dive into the beer. [As Periplaneta says this she adjusts her antennae.] After drinking like a sailor on leave, they finally decide to get out. Now they discover that they can't climb on glass. They drown.
Mongoose. Does this work everywhere?
Periplaneta. The beer-glass bottle trap doesn't work as well with our German cousins because Germans leave beer around everywhere.
Mongoose. So, overall, humans bring death to many of your kind.
Periplaneta. [looks very surprised] Have I been talking to the wall? Sri Mongoose, there are a few bad humans in every tribe but by and large humans are plentiful, they are sloppy; their food, especially in America and Europe, has high calorie content which is just right for us; and humans don't easily catch us or poison us. We wish the very best for humans.
Mongoose. [interrupting] I get it, you can live with them a lot better than you could live without them.
Periplaneta. I wouldn't want to think about living without humans.
Mongoose. Srimati Periplaneta, what is the purpose of your life?
Periplaneta. Why do I live? Me and the gals, we live for all we can get! We love the food people eat! And they are great about leaving us the leavings! Why I've even seen some of them go off on vacation and leave a sink full of plates with vegetable salad — don't much care for that — and with chicken nuggets — that's better — and shrimp and crabs — now you're talkin! We have feasts!
Mongoose. And are you telling me that's why you live?
Periplaneta. Sri Mongoose, in case you haven't figured it out, humans are our model!
[The village assembly reacts with guffaws.]
[A pig shouts out.] That cockroach makes me look good!
Pramukh. [bangs gavel] Order!
Mongoose. You just stated that humans are your model. Explain that please.
Periplaneta. Sri Mongoose, like them we want as much as we can get for as little as we have to do. Like I said, 75% of the time we just lay around and enjoy life.
Mongoose. Can you cite a human authority for that?
Periplaneta. Yes I can. There was a man — his name was Bucky — he went around saying: "More for less, more for less". [echo — more for less] He said that 'more for less' was the secret of civilization. Well, if that's good enough for them, it's good enough for Periplaneta!
Mongoose. So let me get this straight: Periplaneta lives for itself?
Periplaneta. Of course! What else is there?
Mongoose. I have no more questions.
Pramukh. Srimati Periplaneta, thank you, your testimony is over. [pause] Members of the village assembly, may I have your attention? We have reached the end of our formal testimony. The testifiers have presented a full range of experiences to take under consideration. Given the magnitude of the decision before us, I have asked an old friend and prominent colleague of mine to join us in a discussion of the pertinent points. She has made the most difficult journey of all and joins us from the sea — a distinguished Humpback whale whose kind left the land to return to the oceans in order to travel the world. Wise Whale, as she is known, can share with us the wisdom of the ages as passed down through generations. Sri Mongoose, my dear sister may be able to provide answers to some of our questions about human nature, you may ask yours.
Mongoose. Wise Whale Garu, may we have your opinion about whether or not humans are a force for good on mother earth?
Wise Whale.You could say they have worn out their welcome. During the Great Council of Life deliberations, when we voted for humans, we all gave up an opportunity for ourselves by promoting them. We have been faithful to our decisions but somewhere along the way their ego got wildly out of control and they became faithful to it only, never mind us.
Gautam. [sounding defensive] We are a lot of people, there's just so much to keep track of. We keep busy all the time — so many problems to solve and things to do. We can't be everything to everybody and we're not all the same. We still need your support. We are counting on you! Give us more time, please.
Wise Whale. Excuse me, but I'm not sure I understand this human's point of view. Yes, busy all the time consuming us and our homelands. Why, even after they die, I hear that many of them squat on a piece of land forevermore in what they call a graveyard.
Mongoose. Wise Whale Garu, I'm not sure Sri Gautam even understands himself.
Gautam. [glaring at the Mongoose] And who says you've got all the answers Sri Mongoose.
Mongoose. Okay then, let's approach it this way, Gautam, does a polar bear have the right to manage planet earth?
Gautam. No.
Mongoose. An alligator?
Gautam. No.
Mongoose. A kangaroo?
Gautam. No.
Mongoose. What choices and responsibilities do polar bears, alligators, and kangaroos have?
Gautam. To be themselves. To do what they should. They have fewer choices to make than humans.
Mongoose. In other words, a polar bear acts like a polar bear, an alligator acts like an alligator, a kangaroo acts like a kangaroo and so on. All the other animals are to act as themselves. But, unlike those animals, humans have a full range of choices. Is that what you are saying?
Gautam. Humans are free to choose on a much wider scale! That is, after all, much of what it means to be human.
Mongoose. You are "superior" [The mongoose signals quotes with his hands.] not simply because you are given more choices to make but rather because you are able to make a right choice.
Gautam. That's right.
Mongoose. Okay, so answer this. [looks pointedly at Gautam] Do you think that humans could live on earth if there were no other forms of life? [Gautam pauses.] Gautam? [Gautam still pauses.] Do I need to call a scientist?
Gautam. There could be no human life without other life. Humans, as they say, live at the top of the food chain, they must have other life.
Mongoose. So, Life is shared by us all — all of us, right?
Gautam. Yes, but . . . . [Mongoose interrupts.]
Mongoose. No buts Gautam! If all living things share in Life, then to wastefully and needlessly destroy it is wrong. Is it not Gautam? So that doesn't let humans off the hook — does it Gautam? So, are humans a force for good?
Wise Whale. Sri Mongoose, we can only determine if humans are a force for good once we know what is goodness. That is the basic question : What is goodness?
Mongoose. His namesake knew!
Pramukh. Sri Mongoose, calm down.
Wise Whale. [gestures toward the Mongoose ] May I? [pause] In order to know goodness you must learn what is the best way to practice it and, among all good actions, those actions best to practice are caring for another and then again for others. The most meaningful caring is helping lives thrive. That is how to practice and learn goodness. You don't learn goodness by managing or ruling over others or simply having the right to do so. You have to care for their wellbeing!
Mongoose. But is it that simple? I'd soon starve if I had to care instead for everything I ate! I suppose I'm no good.
Gautam. Of course, even a mongoose has to look after himself. Most of us have to eat other life to survive, we're made that way. [Gautam notices a mosquito buzzing around his arm.] For instance, this mosquito is made to eat me.
Mongoose. Yes, right, but not all of you, and are you caring for it when you smash it to death? Do you propose to eat it?
Gautam. Well, she — it's the females that bite — is only caring for herself without a thought about me.
Mongoose. Exactly, sounds familiar doesn't it!
Gautam. Fine then, there, [Gautam smashes the mosquito.] it's dead.
Mongoose. And so might makes right and that makes my point about you humans.
Gautam. No, not exactly, she may have been carrying malaria or yellow fever or other diseases which can be mightier than me.
Mongoose. My point is that you choose what you care about and what you choose to kill.
Gautam. The point is that I make a point of caring for many others and that, in and of itself, has changed me. I think more broadly but not in absolutes as you want me to think by respecting mosquitoes as though they are on an equal footing with all the rest of life. I'm still learning but it is very clear to me that evolution hasn't stopped stop with mosquitoes as its crowning achievement. There's lots of other life I feel compelled to respect much more than mosquitoes and for good reason. For instance, I decided a few years ago to become a vegetarian because I decided to care about the implications of eating animals.
Mongoose. Well, I can't argue with that except to say that caring about them is not the same as caring for them. Actions prove intentions and evidently you don't care much about mosquitoes at all.
Gautam. Sri Mongoose, shall we declare today as 'hug a bug day.' Would that make you happy? Right you are, but 'caring about' is a start. Mosquitoes aside, in becoming a vegetarian, I simply decided I didn't want to be responsible for the death of something that fears for its life. Those animals that value their lives to such an extent as to fear their deaths share a sense of consciousness with me that I don't want to treat casually but instead respectfully, particularly if that animal can't learn how to overcome its fear. Even though, by evolution, I was made to hunt, kill and eat animals, by personal conviction I have decided not to. It's called empathy.
Mongoose. So that mosquito you can kill, doesn't it fear for its death? Doesn't it try to fly away?
Gautam. Yes, instinctually so, but not out of fear. Even plants respond chemically to being eaten but they don't respond with emotion. Humans have emotion, and plenty of it, so much that they are able to empathise. They can feel for others and realise the blessing of caring, not simply perform it due to some hereditary compulsion. Humans can choose to care.
Mongoose. Okay, but caring can't be the whole story behind goodness since you say you can kill yet still be a good person.
[Wise Whale looks at the Pramukh in dismay.]
Pramukh. Let's keep this discussion orderly you two. We needn't trade accusations carelessly.
Wise Whale. Sri Mongoose, Sri Gautam, please listen carefully. I think what I have to say may be helpful to the two of you. You're almost there. [pause] The plant evolves poison to deter the bug eating it. That is helpful to the plant. The bug evolves to overcome the poison of the plant. That is helpful to the bug. Evolution that helps the plant is tough on the bug and vice versa. There is no good or bad in this, right and wrong make no sense. It is simply just. Life teaches us that what is wrong is what interrupts the process of evolution, not as a drought or flood may cause, but as a consequence of a thought, devoid of empathy, which produces an irresponsible action such as an extermination — that is how badness becomes. Responsible action, right action is that which promotes the whole of life — the plant together with the bug — in the context of evolution. Therein lies the essence of morality and wellspring of our moral values in the animal world. Life abhors a void and whenever, however, it can provide a life form it is want to do so. That duty is life's expression of caring. That is why caring — the most responsible action we can perform as an individual — produces goodness. Caring promotes life. A few of our species realise this and humankind must also for together they are producers of sacros upon which the balance of nature depends and the progress of life continues.
Pramukh. Thank you, Wise Whale Garu, and so it is clear that responsibility has not kept pace with the thinking animals' thoughts let alone their actions. Now I'd like to discuss some of the other issues involved here.
Wise Whale. Yes, let's return to the main topic. Caring is a major part of the story but there is still much more to consider. [pause] While caring for ourselves we take, when caring for others we give. Since there are so many others than ourselves we each must make sure we give much more than we take. If we can satisfy ourselves that this is what we have done without even realising it, then goodness surely abounds within.
Gautam. How can we possibly give more than we take if we haven't taken enough to give back in the first place?
Mongoose. Spoken like a human! Well then, you can just try taking less than you give. [pause] You still don't get it, do you? You don't give from what you have taken, that bit already should have been consumed by you as we do in the animal world. Otherwise, you would have taken more than you needed and that's called greed, that's what is no good.
Gautam. Just what do you give then?
Wise Whale. You give of yourself as well as yours and this is the kind of caring that teaches goodness. Caring changes the way you think, the way you act. And being cared for also changes the way you think and act. The goodness that results from caring and being cared for has the capacity to change the world, to save the world. Caring is a force for goodness. Caring is incompatible with exploiting. Caring gives rise to love.
Mongoose. Then have humans given and cared enough to be considered as a force for good?
Wise Whale. We have to apply a different measure to them. Humans don't live only by instinct like so many of the rest of us. We take only what we need for the day. They're different, they're always looking ahead, they live on worry, and worry over whether or not they've gotten more than they need. [pause] Others say they live on hope.
Mongoose. That's what they do when they don't worry. It's either hope or worry, their future is always blurry.
Wise Whale. As their instinct evolved into intellect, humans thought more about providing for their future and less about living for the day. The problem is that there are more of them every day, so many more. We need to insure that their future takes all of us into account too. The whole of life is their most important responsibility, and they've known it since Noah set the first example with his ark yet still to this day most humans refuse to own it.
Mongoose. If they have equal measures of responsibility and exploitability, then what guides them through their decisions?
Wise Whale. They have their gods.
Mongoose. Then why are we in such a mess?
Wise Whale. Their gods, I said, gods in the image of them.
Pramukh. Well they're not all in the image of them, I think one rather looks like me.
[A monkey shouts out.]And me too!
Pramukh. But that's not done us much good has it?
Wise Whale. What I mean to say is that their gods reflect their personalities and their aspirations.
Mongoose. Well then, it's obvious, that's why we're in such a fix these days. So many of their gods are just like them! They worship images.
Gautam. If we have created our gods, and I don't entirely agree with that, then at least they are gods whose attributes we aspire to.
Mongoose. Is that right! Then who decides those aspirations and why do you fall so short of your own aspirations and those of your gods?
Gautam. We don't know how to worship. We spend most of the time asking for more.
Mongoose. More of what?
Gautam. More of what we didn't need more of in the first place if only we had thought more carefully.
Mongoose. Right, so as long as there are gods it is much easier just to ask them than to think about it. Lots of humans are happy to make god responsible for their actions.
Pramukh. And god's answer to that was to give them a mind and so now we have an easy way of telling which humans do and don't know how to use it! I'd say as long as they spend more money on weaponry and defense than education we have proof that humans have not yet matured.
Wise Whale. We all know humans can do goodness. That capability is one of their big plus points but it requires a different way of thinking. Greed is easy, greed satisfies the senseless senses. Humans have fantastic minds, they must know that goodness and responsibility are complementary but goodness and exploitability are incompatible. You could say that humans have not been responsible enough about responsibility and responsibility is only a handshake away from empathy. Their selfishness stands in the way. The human problem is that so many don't take goodness or responsibility seriously and fewer still see the connection between the two. In the meantime, problems that could have been prevented cost so much more to cure provided the consequences haven't become irreversible.
Pramukh. Sri Gautam, I think the evidence is clear. On the whole, and with the exception of a few of them, humans have not been a force for good on earth. It's all been rather one-sided and particularly so with some groups of humans. For instance, those with religions that focused on finding truth made many discoveries along the way that led to science and technology. This is what we needed humans for. These truth seekers put us on the right track. But that same technology also fell into the hands of others much less focused on truth and much less responsible. To them science and technology became a means of exploitation. The exploiters soon outnumbered the truth seekers. That led to massive exploitation as they misused the discoveries of the truth seekers. Since greed is so easy and truth often requires discipline, the truth seekers need a way of enforcing responsibility so that their discoveries aren't abused. We, the rest of life, must help the truth seekers ascend to their rightful role as caretakers of the earth. These are the humans we had voted for.
Gautam. There, Sri Mongoose, you see, some of us can do goodness.
Mongoose. But not enough of you are! It's not that we're tired of waiting, it's that we can't wait anymore!
Gautam. [Looks at Pramukh] So what are you going to do?
Pramukh. The Panchyat will meet and decide.
[curtain]
Act IV
Suffrage
[Before Act IV, the narrator returns down the aisle and addresses the audience.]
Narrator.I hope you're enjoying the play. I guess you are — you're still here! I've been sitting in the back. Maybe you, like me, have had a change of mind or a new thought. Well, get ready for a little more! Now I want to introduce you to a new word. [The narrator holds up a card with Ζωη] That's Greek. It means life. [The narrator holds up a card with Zoe] That's it in English. Zoe stands for life. So that's something new for Act IV. That's all you need to know for now. So, as they say : On with the show! [The narrator runs back up the aisle.]
[curtain]
Scene 1

The Panchas Deliberate

[The five Panchas are meeting together and Wise Whale has been invited as a guest. The meeting is in progress.]
Pancha Gray Langur.They probably know how to take goodness seriously but why should they, so far greed and exploitation have worked well for them!
Pancha Dolphin. Yes, very well. Now they need to mature to the point where doing good takes the place of greed before what they're greedy about runs out.
Pancha Cobra. How can that happen?
Wise Whale. It can happen if their intellect overcomes selfishness and carelessness.
Pancha Parrot. And why might their intellect succeed in that cause?
Wise Whale. Because the effect is goodness and goodness has permanence whereas all else is temporal. Though evolution responds to change with change that itself produces more change, it needs the durability goodness has on offer in order to avoid wasteful, pre-mature extinctions. Those who consume selfishly undermine this stability and become the antithesis of evolution. After all, if evolution had been reinforcing greed as good or right action then we would see lots more of it throughout nature wouldn't we. Instead, evolution emphasises biodiversity through Life. There are no oligarchies in nature absent humans. Species are resources for one another and the more the better. This is the philosophy of evolution. Humans contradict this. Such species must reform, or they will perish by the decree of Life. Humans are smart enough to realise this even though until now they have been acting like a plague of locusts. [pause] It all started when the force for goodness promoted Life. Soon after, they became partners. Since then they have existed in an exclusive relationship that is as old as Life itself. Humans are a product of that long association.
Pancha Gray Langur. Are you telling me that goodness begat humans?
Wise Whale. I said goodness begat Life. Humans are a fruit of Life at the core of which is their free will.
Pancha Parrot. Rotten to the core then if you ask me.
Wise Whale. No, they're still ripening. What started as a dependent relationship needs to become one of mutual respect. Humans are born with goodness but very few of them know how to cultivate it in their youth. They do have intellect, however, and that is what we have to work through.
Pramukh. After all that we've heard, I think it's rather clear that down through the ages most humans were not caring for very much, and certainly not for much other than themselves. So, in the balance, I conclude that humans have not been a force for good or else the earth would be a much better place and becoming better. Instead, it's becoming worse. Now we must ask if humans can become a force for good?
Pancha Gray Langur. What! You want to give them another chance?
Pramukh. The question is can they mature and become the species we need them to be. [pause] They were among the first animals to show a sense of responsibility. A good choice we thought to manage the earth for the good of us all. Some of them have shown they are capable of this. But will they be able to, in a massively cultural way, accept that caring must be their foremost responsibility so that they can mature into a force for good for themselves and everything else? Life has evolved and matured to such an extent that it no longer can afford to be wiped out once again by natural disasters of cataclysmic proportions. That's happened often enough, we've had at least five major setbacks. That point must remain foremost in our minds. Life must build on its achievements and progress onto greater, fascinating and more beneficial levels of fulfillment in praise of sacros. This is the way of goodness. Humans have evolved to help save life on earth from having to start from scratch each time life is challenged by the physical forces of the cosmos. The natural disasters that led to previous mass extinctions must be prevented in the future. Life must be safeguarded. Life has promoted humans to overpower this threat with technology but so far they haven't met our expectations, and what little they have done has come at great expense.
Pancha Gray Langur. Well, if they aren't doing their job, shall we replace humans with another species among us?
Pancha Dolphin.Who? Humans have the best capacity to do the job over the whole of the earth. What else lives the world over?
Pancha Gray Langur. Ha Ha! You're saying we should stick with them even if they're doing a lousy job of it.
Pancha Dolphin. Right! Besides, humans are not going to sit aside and let any of us rule over them anyway. They're here to stay. I'm not happy defending humans but what else is there?
Wise Whale. I agree that they have the best capacity to act responsibly and that this is absolutely necessary since they also have an equal or greater capacity to be the most exploitive.
Pramukh. We have no other choice but to offer them our guidance. We must empower the truth seekers by working within their governments and by becoming a voice in their democracies. Together, we and the truth seekers should have enough votes to prove to all humans the benefits of goodness. Please inform the village assembly that we are about to pass judgement.
[curtain]
Scene 2

The Judgment

[The village assembly is sitting at attention awaiting the pronouncement of the Pramukh.]
Pramukh.

Members of the assembly, the Panchayat found it very difficult to reach a unanimous decision. We agree that humankind has put systems in place that destroy our habitats, pollute our seas, poison our environment, make terrible noises and finally use the air as a garbage dump for the exhaust of their power plants. It is difficult to change their minds, and we could not think of appropriate ways to change their deviant behaviors. Humans act like they are our gods and even dare to believe they can live independently without regard for the mother Life of us all. Humans spell their goodness with one o and all along the way reap more than they sow.

We find that the type of democracy they are so proud of is actually a politically correct facade for greed by the many. The politicians who control their democracies don't seem interested in fewer, better educated, well resourced humans. They want to rule over huge crowds of people! In reality, as regards the majority of humans, when push comes to shove we get shoved.

  • We stood by while humankind worshipped nature by creating fictions and silly superstitions.
  • We stood by while humankind pretended that nature and their culture were separate and that a distinction between these two was right to have.
  • We stood by while humankind took an antagonistic and destructive attitude toward most of life while we hoped they would soon mature beyond their juvenility.
  • We stood by while humankind took an exploitive attitude toward nature hoping they would mature past their greed.
  • We stood by while humankind overpopulated the earth hoping that they would realise that their growth came at the expense of all others.
  • We stood by while humankind sent countless numbers of their kind into the battles of needless wars.
  • We stood by while humankind failed their promise of universal education through poor governance.

No more will we stand by humans without representation.

Yes, we realise that there are some among them who know they must change their ways. In recognition of these truth seekers who are trying to perceive Life's ways, and in hopes of changing the ways of all people, the voice of balance between all living species must be allowed to speak. This is the voice of birthing and dying. [pause] It is the voice of listening and speaking. [pause] This is the 'song of life' whose messages humans must hear once again.

There is an ancient word of theirs that comes from the Greeks. Humankind is proud of their way of democracy. It grew out of a political challenge to rule by a few. It means 'people's rule'. Now the rest of life must challenge people for their own good. The way of 'people's rule' must recognize and uphold the way of Life's rule! Humans must now learn and practice a new form of democracy known as Zoecracy that gives Life, that gives us, a vote and influence on the decisions of humans. Humans must now learn to respect the ways of Life, and her home in nature, in their law-making and law-keeping.

Those in positions of leadership should be raised within the nurture of nature. For without this holistic upbringing they are unable to lead in the rightful and truest sense that the earth requires. To those who say, 'but we can't hear this song of Life' I say : If you can explore the universe then you can learn to hear Life. To those who say they don't want to bother, I warn them : If humankind continues to ignore and abuse their duty to Life they shall cast themselves and all of their kind in a downward spiral of catastrophe from without and within their very being. Life will not allow humans to cut out her heart even if they force her to admit that they may be her biggest mistake. May the truth seekers never allow this day upon the earth. May they lift the veil for all of humanity to see how goodness can replace all manner of greed. The earth is indeed a most special place and must be cherished. Those that realise this, and don't merely live to exist, deserve the responsibility of governance through zoecracy. That is our judgment which is in keeping with the primary directive of the Great Council of Life. Humans may have another chance provided they adopt these corrections to their ways.

[curtain]
Act V
It's a Wrap

Scene 1
News Story
Abha.Okay. I think we've got enough good material for this story.
Crew member. Yes, and so much desperation, this community is just living on the edge. Mother Nature [looks up to the sky] we could use a tender moment here!
Abha. Well, she seems much angrier now, fed-up and ready to knock us around a bit.
Crew member. But surely these people don't deserve it. So much toil and effort has gone into leveling and irrigating this land, thousands of acres. Just think how many people they can feed in a good year. [pause] Do you know how is the farmer who tried to commit suicide?
Abha. No, I've not heard. [pause] You know, nobody deserves these effects of climate change. What have the farmers done to hurt nature, they've cultivated it, made green what was barren? If it weren't for the hard working farmers, just think how fewer people there would be. [pause, looking from side to side] Oh, where is Gautam, have you seen him? [pause] I've got to get back now. Please check on the farmer, and then bring Gautam home with you. I never seem to understand what keeps him so busy. He must be over there somewhere under a tree probably. Please do have a look for him.
[curtain]
Scene 2
Behind the Story
[Gautam walks in the door of their home and finds Abha reviewing her day's work.]
Gautam. Hi Abha, sorry I didn't find my way back to you before you left. Did you hear about the farmer?
Abha.No, what?
Gautam. The news was all over the village. He left behind a wife and four small children. He said he had become hopeless.
Abha. How do you know that?
Gautam. That's what I heard. [pause] Abha, I feel so bad.
Abha. Yes, me too. I'm going to cover this in the news.
[As Gautam sets his backpack on the floor a toad jumps out.]
Gautam. What he needed was more raindrops, so many more raindrops to soothe . . . . [Abha interrupts, shaking her head perturbed by his comment as the toad hops around.]
Abha. Gautam, what the farmers explained they need is more irrigation and lots of it. Raindrops aren't dependable anymore. The government has much still to do.
Gautam. I wonder do they know what to do?
Abha. [looking at the toad] I see you met up with your animal friends today. Did they have much to say?
Gautam. Funny you should ask, it seems like I've been away for days. [pause] I think we've got to give nature a way to vote and maybe even put a tax on agricultural goods to pay for birth control.
Abha. Oh Gautam, really, even if you think this way please don't talk like this in front of our friends! [pause] Here is your birthday present. [Gautam opens it and stares in amazement.] I got these animal figurines from the handicrafts emporium. They are so well made, aren't they? You almost never see these animals anymore. Look at the mongoose, doesn't he look smart!
Gautam. Yes, just perfect, thanks so much. You have no idea how much they mean to me. [pause] Abha, while I was in the jungle I wrote a poem. Would you like to hear it?
Abha. Yes, why not, lovely.
Gautam. Great, I'd like to know what you think about it. Here goes . . . . [Gautam positions himself with a straight back and sense of conviction. The toad winks at Gautam. ]
[Gautam's Reprieve]
Who there can understand me?
Nature affirms all that I believe.
Once, my dreams had no validity.
I had misunderstood Life's reality.
These questions, their answers, helped me see.
I see my face in your face.
Do you see your face in mine?
This I asked of a monkey who shook his head.
I see my belly in your belly.
Do you see your belly in me?
This I asked of a whale who shook his tale.
I see my torso in your trunk.
Do you see your torso in me?
This I asked of a tree that shook in the breeze.
I see my mind in your mind.
Do you see your mind in mine?
This I asked of a dolphin who replied, "There is where thoughts shine."
I see goodness in everything around me.
Do you see goodness in me?
This I asked once to the jungle and once to the sea.
Each replied 'yes' as long as you are part of we.
I answered, yes, this too, I believe.
Then the monkey, whale, tree and dolphin asked the jungle and the sea
if the I between them and me belonged to such a human who really could see.
They thought together and finally agreed, yes possibly, just maybe.
And with that my I was set free.
Thereafter a kiss softly tugged at the very core of me
and became an embrace of truth and serenity
imparting the blessed love that beckons all humanity.
Coursing through my veins and throughout the sap of trees
flows life's fervent call for dignity
to honour, cherish and heed as our creed.
[end of poem]
Abha, could you broadcast this story?
Abha. Oh, my dear Gautam, really, I think you've had too much sun today. Just give me a moment to prepare evening tea. Go sit under the bamboo . . . . I'll soon join you, and we can discuss your experience. Your poem, it sounds like a plea for a new beginning.
Gautam. Abha, my dear Abha, can I help with tea?
Abha. I'll take just a few minutes.
[As Gautam takes his seat under the bamboo he notices a monkey. They stare intensely at each other. Gautam begins to smile.]
Gautam. Yes, [I] got it!
[The monkey runs off excitedly on his way waving his arms all about and shouting joyfully.]
[End]
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