“Having and showing compassion and benevolence”
Is the definition of “humane,”
But our actions can only be called malevolence
As our planet is put in considerable strain,
Our animals in substantial pain,
And our resources pour down the drain.
“Humane,” we call ourselves.
“Humanity,” we say, is the foundation of our kind,
But we stand by and watch as books stack our shelves,
Filled with extinct species that have too quickly declined.
We’re watching our biodiversity unwind,
Yet we can’t see that humans are the mastermind.
We believe we have the right to be happy,
That our ignorance is more important than knowledge,
But isn’t that incredibly crappy?
That we don’t even deign to acknowledge
What our “humanity” has demolished?
We feel ourselves superior to other living creatures.
We feel we can do as we wish
And watch our consequences from the bleachers.
We’re destroying ecosystems with a single squish,
Brushing it off like an extra side dish,
Handing nature over like a game of Go Fish.
How “humane” is decorating our gardens with invasive species?
Letting the native plants drown in neglect?
We regard them like human feces
Because they’re not our pretty little project,
Because they don’t “deserve” our respect,
So we let them die like a reject.
We’ve heard that pollution has grown to extremes,
But we still make our plastic bottles
And think up pretty dreams
While looking at the world through selfish goggles.
We’re pushing the world down by the throttle,
And pretty soon it will wobble.
“Humane,” we say,
Is how human we actually are.
But we’re leading the world astray,
Treating plants like prey,
Pushing animals away,
While we create a nice bouquet,
With the environment we constantly betray.