Who do we think we are?

Of the all the scariest things in my childhood, Disney was the cause of approximately all of them. Its quite safe to say that of the few things that really got under my skin were Mufasa's death and the death of Bambi's mom. While Mufasa's death was natural and part of the circle of life (i'll get to this on another day), it is the murder of Bambi's mom that really gets to me now. She was brutally killed without regard for her loved ones or own life. Bambi suggests to me that the natural world is the real world, the essence of what exists in nature is true. Man however, is an outsider and tends to overstep his bounds as society progresses. The reason for this is that Man considers human society to be superior to the natural world and therefore Man should be able to civilize it and triumph over it.
As cool as he is, Thayer Walker is a prime example of this trend. He spent three weeks living on an uninhabited island, to see if he could survive. In the past, survival was much more tangible; it was a question of life or death. Now, survival has become to much a test of human strength, it poses the question: can we conquer nature. The intent is to overstep our boundaries so much into nature, to do things our of our sphere. This provides a stark contrast though. While usually humans try to civilize nature, extreme actions such as island survival are almost a way to return oneself to a primal state that can function void of resources and technology. Although an action such as that would be rather idealistic and even preferred, that is not the general case.
Usually, when Man oversteps his boundaries in Nature, Nature is harmed because of it. Take once again Thayer, this time his experience walking jaguars. Imagine that, the weak creatures that humans are have advanced so much technologically that we can, in a sense, domesticate the king of the jungle, the ultimate predator. What human wouldn't want to prove their power and dominance in the world hierarchy by taking a Jaguar for a walk. But what do the jaguars get from it? They lose whatever we gain. No longer are they at the top no longer are they free. Human society, an alternate reality to the 'real world' of nature, has turned the social order upside down, making the once-dominate jaguar just a mere pawn in the game of life. Another example is Mount Everest. The Himalayas, at such high altitude with such extreme weather conditions and terrain are no place for man. But our high-tech jackets, bottled oxygen and even domestication of yak take us to the top. And now, Everest is a dump, trash lies everywhere, often times obscured by snow. But nature is not forgiving, for many have lost their lives on the mountain and many will continue to.
What we should strive for, is an idealistic and peaceful coexistence. For humans to learn from nature about themselves as individuals and Man as a whole. The relationship should be about mutual growth, rather a competition of dominance. The problems lies in the progression of society. We love our cell phones, our email and especially our Facebooks. But how much of that is in a whole new world? All these advancements are completely outside the realm and scope of nature. The heart of human existence today is this, to live a fully-functioning life inside of our new reality and to rarely (for most people) step outside into the real world in order to build some character and self-assurance that yes, we can live in nature, if only for a time. But are we really better for setting up camp surrounded by hundreds of RV's, still within range of TV, internet and radically even the grocery store? Regardless of what happens, I think that nature will ultimately survive, and everyone will learn to value the real world it encompasses. That being said, there are natural laws to be followed and boundaries to followed. Nature is supremely dominant and as much as we try to be a sublime force, our destruction and abuse of nature holds terrible consequences.
Driving home from school the other day, I saw the fog coming over the hill from the Pacific Ocean. It looked positively serene and beautiful when juxtaposed with the bold and dashing orange sunset. A gray smog hung in the background as if to smirk and say, "just drive a few more miles, suckerpunch the ozone one more time, i dare you." The day that the sun no longer sets so strongly could be the day that humans have become the psuedosublime force. And I fear that it may come...