Do we own the earth?

Happened to see this heartwarming video of Penguins roaming in an aquarium, as no visitors because of the quarantine.

This reminded me of an old movie called 12 Monkeys.

The premise of the movie is set in a post-apocalyptic world in 2035 where a deadly virus has swept away 99% of the human population(in the year 1996) and the earth is reclaimed by its original inhabitants the animals and plants.

The remaining 1% have gone beneath the surface and are living in seclusion as the virus is still rampant on the surface and kills only humans. There is a group of scientists underground trying to isolate the virus in its pure form to develop a vaccine for the remaining population and reclaim their space on earth, as it has mutated now and is invincible in its current form. The movie is essentially a time travel movie where they send back a scavenger hunter to the time before the outbreak to gather the virus in its pure form. The movie dwells less on science and more on the time-traveling tropes such as predestination and paradoxes. The main protagonist Cole (played by Bruce Willis) comes out from his underground hiding at the time to scavenge for insects and clues in hopes of finding something for the scientists to use for their research.

Without getting much into the plot of the movie(not intending to have spoilers), I wanted to highlight some of the themes explored in the movie. There is a scene where Cole is out scavenging in the city ruins of Philadelphia and he sees a lion standing atop a building and roaring. This clearly indicates that the world as we know it ceases to exist and is ruled by the animal kingdom. Somewhere in our small existence, we have forgotten that the earth belongs to all the species and we are just one of them sharing the resources. We have exploited it to a point where no other organism is able to live and share the resources. There is another scene where Cole who has time-traveled to 1996 from 2035 breathes in the fresh air with tears in his eyes and jumps in a puddle of water with joy because these have become the stuff of history in the apocalyptic future. We are taking these simple things for granted. There is another monologue where the lunatic Goines(played by Brad Pitt, one of his best performances after fight club) said till 19th-century washing hands with soap after a medical procedure was not mandatory. And people laughed at the first ones who suggested this. But now it has become the way of the world, even called scrubbing in. The point being habits and thoughts can change, what may sound crazy now can become the new world order. Crazy is defined by just what the majority believes in a given timeframe.

This movie remained with me for its subtle messaging that the earth belongs to every organism and not just the egomaniac human. It also clearly tells you that how much ever you think you are intelligent and smart you have no control over the chaos and the inevitable. It has become so relevant to the current scenario when we are all holed up in our homes trying to escape the deadly virus which is oddly synonymous with how Cole and his fellow survivors are holed up underground.

I know we will get through this. But this also presents us with an opportunity to press the reset button. Maybe define the new crazy. Else, those numerous apocalypse movies have taught us that nature will find a way to reclaim what is rightfully hers.