Pondering the big picture: we're related to bananas!
Mark Pavilons

We are all living on borrowed time, you know.

I suppose it's not really time that's borrowed, but space. We're biological renters, nothing more.

Many of us spend our lives in disarray, moving from one milestone to another turning point as much by chance as by design.

As Forrest Gump said: "I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floatin' around accidentallike on a breeze. But I, I think maybe it's both."

Once we arrive in early adulthood our worries begin. We worry about employment, money, car repairs and the rate of inflation. We spend a great deal of our time consumed with worry and doubt. In this civilized nation of ours, our current legacy is "status anxiety." It's like being on a treadmill of desire and materialism - as we achieve more, we are slaves to the uphill trek. We're chained to the machine and can't find the off switch.

We have created a world, here in the west, where luxuries - that fancy car and nice big house - have become necessities. Personal debt, as reflected on credit cards nation-wide, is just one example that we're living way beyond our means.

Maybe because I'm a product of immigrant parents who worked hard and earned average incomes that my take on things is a bit different. These days, my extravagance consists of surprising my family with Chinese takeout.

I know, I should be spoiling myself with lavish things, drinking martinis after work and buying $1,000 suits. But you know, allowing my children to play sports and learn to skate seems to be a better use of my limited funds. And, making a regular contribution to their RESPs is vital to their future success. If I have to eat Mac and Cheese a while longer, so be it.

But what's come to my attention (and perhaps slipped by others) is that in keeping up the Joneses, we not only lose our own identity, but the things we seek become commonplace. What's the big deal of owning a BMW when the parking lot at the grocery store in filled with them? And, any $400,000 subdivision home in Bolton is just like the next one.

We are attaining things once considered status symbols. But in reality, they are now just common, everyday "things." Unimpressive and replaceable all.

Do we keep aiming for bigger and more because that's what we think we want?

I wonder if affluent types, even those in our own community, spend as much time, effort and money on their kids as they do on their expensive "toys."

In recent years, I have seen more nannies at local parks than ever before. What that says to me is more and more affluent couples are finding surrogate parents for their young.

Last summer, when my family was at an Ontario resort, we came across one or two surrogates. The only time the whole family was together was the dinner hour. The rest of the day, the kids were in the care of the nanny, giving the parents time to lay around soaking up the UV.

And here I thought a family vacation was just that - fun time spent together making memories.

Call me judgmental if you like, but I just don't get it.

We trudge through our daily routines, taking out the trash with surprising gusto and doing the dishes by hand when the dishwasher is sidelined by a leaky hose. Whether you're making minimum wage, or raking in $100,000 per year, these humbling tasks equal the playing field.

And we don't manage our time very well. We're rushed, to the point where eating on the run is a luxury.

Some of us still care - we work at low-paying jobs because we think we're making a difference. I know that's archaic thinking and I should see a shrink, but alas, my health plan doesn't cover one!

Since our time on this planet is limited, should we be wasting it by stressing ourselves over unimportant things? That's the question every generation has likely asked itself at one point, but I have yet to hear a comprehensive answer and game plan.

We're suffering - as individuals and as a species. More of us are dying - at younger ages and from previously "rare" or "unusual" cancers. With that fact starring us in the face, why do we continue on our ignorant path to self-destruction?

If Forrest Gump (and others) is correct and we each have a destiny, I doubt that destiny involves European sports cars, TVs the size of swimming pools, buying low and selling high and ignoring our fellow human beings.

There's strength in numbers. Maybe we're more connected to our world than we think.

While we have yet to find the missing link and prove our ancestry, humans do share 98% of our DNA with chimps. But we also share 85% of our genes with mice; 46% with yeast; 60% with fruit flies and even 50% with bananas (I'm not making that up).

One could argue that we have a rather odd family tree, being related to everything from primates to fruit.

Of course, it's misleading science. Alter just one genome in the 3.2 billion base pairs and you change us completely.

But it also begs the question - why do we have anything in common at all with a banana? A banana can't enjoy the craftsmanship that goes into a fine German automobile, nor can it wear Armani with ease. And yet, we're long-lost "cousins!"

Maybe everything on Earth is connected in some microscopic way. That in itself is fascinating. Are we all part of the bigger picture, and are there bananas in heaven?

On a larger scale, do we all share an inherent energy (aside from genes) that makes us part of the whole? We've been on this planet for roughly four billion years and still, we know so little about our world. Aphids, snails and coral may all have "souls" and a common link bestowed by the Creator.

Each time a species dies on this planet, we are affecting our own future. We should shudder each time we hear their cries.

And here we are demanding GPS on our cell phones.

Attention passengers, the plane to Gamorrah has been overbooked. Seats are still available for Hell. Have a nice flight!