Thursday, October 14, 2010

"Earth" a must read book!

I just finished reading the book "Earth" written by the writers of "The nightly show with Jon Steward". Even though it's supposed to be funny, I found it to be more of a satire of human race. They start the book addressed to aliens in the presumption that the human race is extinct. The book tries to give us an historical view of mankind from the beginning of the Universe. It talks about religion, wars, science, marriage, sex, children, birth and death, in addition to many other topics. It certainly gave me "food for thought" . As I read the book, I realized how small and insignificant we are as people. It also made me think of how narcissistic we are as a species. From the beginning of the book, the writers, try to put in perspective how huge the universe is compared to our so small planet. It also enlightens  how blessed we are to be living in such a beautiful planet and how little respect we have towards it, in the sense that we do not take care of our natural resources and how little we respect our fellow human beings. When it talks about Wars, it rehearses most of the major wars fought throughout our time and what propelled us to fight for. For example, many wars were started due to religion, like The Crusades. Bringing this to modern times, how we still have terrorism based on religious difference between us. People that kill in the name of God. The book also talks about God or Gods, depending on the religion people practice. It also empathizes how people force their religious beliefs on others, many through violence. The more I read, the less funny it seemed to me. It gave me some insight on how petty we humans are. I extrapolate this to the type of job I do. I am a psychiatrist. I listen to peoples pain and suffering all day long. I medicate them, if needed, to help them cope with life's normal stress-ors. The more I think about this, I quite don't understand why they let themselves be consumed by life. Don't get me wrong. I do believe there are mental illnesses that need to be treated, but many people that seek therapy or medications, are consumed by life. For example, they get upset because they have to work for a living. Instead of enjoying the fact that they do have a job, they complain of their supervisors, their duties, the hours they have to put in, why they do more "work" then the other person, etc. They seek "doctors excuses", like the FMLA, ( Family Medical Leave Act), to be able to "call in sick" whenever they don't feel like working. When they are fired, they are so surprised that this would happen to them. They think that after all the "work" they have done and dedication to the company, they get fired. How dare they! On the other hand, they could look at their job as a blessing where they can contribute to our planet in a small way, but added to the efforts of others, they may make a difference. Either way, we all die the same. That was one of the points the book made. We can guarantee you will die. So, fellow earthlings, you are here for a short time, make it a heck of a "ride" on your journey through Earth!

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