A simple life

{{ http://www.ioncinema.com/beta/images/upload/3712pic1116.jpg?150×200|March of the Penguins}}

Last night I went to see [[http://wip.warnerbros.com/marchofthepenguins/|March of the Penguins]] with my friends here. It isn’t really a movie, its more like a documentary. Its cute, funny in places; some of the scenes are simply breathtaking; you feel sad at times for the helplesness of these animals against Nature.

But watching the movie really made me think about the life these majestic emperor penguins lead, and the lives we humans lead. //ALERT//: I’m going to make some sweeping generalizations here, but just bear with me.

I was thinking about the life of these penguins. Year after year after year, they go through the same ritual. Half the year they spend walking (not sliding, not riding, not flying, just walking… and if you’ve seen penguins walk, you can appreciate that its not the most efficient form of transportation). And its not a short walk — say 3 or 4 trips of 70 miles each, in freezing snow and biting winds. Their lives are centered around their off springs — to save them from the cold, to feed them, to protect them. Their love is passionate, but short lived — partners change pretty much every year. They go without food for upto 4 months at a stretch.

Its a simple life, you’ll admit. Humans, in comparison, lead //vastly// complicated lives. I mean if an alien race was to make a documentary on humans, I doubt they’d be able to capture a //single// human’s life in 3 earth hours, let alone capture the entire human species. But what have we really added to our lives in making them so complicated?

The penguins experience love; they show pride; they show honour and mutual respect; they show endurance; they show cooperation; and they have some education. As humans scurry about their busy lives all over the world, in the remotest corners of antarctica a group of penguins goes on with their lives, walking, feeding, living, dying, walking … unaware of the immensity of the universe.

But what have we added to our lives with all our knowledge and science and technology? Don’t you sometimes wish that our lives were as simple as the penguins? Where we could take pleasure in the simple smalleties and not worry about all the politics and the careers and the countries and the societies and the countless number of threads that bind us and weave around us this complex web of humanity.

When I put myself in perspective with the bigger picture, //life, universe and everything// … I feel so small and humble. Its a good feeling :-)