The rice paddies in our province have foot-paths (earthen mounds about a foot high) marking the boundaries of each individual paddy. A crafty farmer would sometimes in the dead of night increase by a few inches the area of his paddy by plowing/shaving the side of the border foot-path facing his land and adding more mud or earth along the side facing his adjoining neighbor's paddy. A quarrel over a few inches of land, where resort to court litigation is rare, soon erupts into physical violence, occasionally even ending in severe injuries or death to either or both of the combatants.
Among nations, we still have territorial disputes. Sovereignty over the Spratley Islands (or Turtle Islands,)a few tiny islets located at the southwestern part of the Philippine Sea (or in the South China Sea, depending on whose map you are using), is being disputed among the Philippines, China, and Malaysia (or Indonesia, I am not sure now which of the latter two herein mentioned is involved.)) As of this writing, I believe the border between Palestine and Israel is still unresolved. Why let a narrow strip of land cause so much trouble and sorrow?
The other day our TV's Science channel 272 reports that another planet similar to Earth has been found. It revolves around a star about 20 light years away - in our own galaxy. This planet reportedly has an environment similar to the Earth's--with oxygen, water, etc.; hence, also habitable by humans. It is surmised that in all probability there are a million more Earth-like planets just in our galaxy waiting to be discovered.
Scientists agree that our 'middle-aged' sun has about 5 billion years more to go before it exhausts its helium fuel and dies. Verily, mankind should have enough time to figure out a way to relocate to these Earth-type habitats before our dying Sun can consume us. Our Sun's ire would indeed inspire us to explore the universe entire. But only if we could just come to our senses and not exterminate ourselves or destroy our poor planet through pure stupidity, rancor, and/or greed.
By Skep/vdeperalta
No comments:
Post a Comment