It's us, God...

Are you there, God? It's me... The real human talent is destruction. Not creation, but destruction, you heard me right. We arrogantly, single-mindedly, and, let's face it, effectively destroy nature, the basis, the basis of our existence, given to us from above. Every creature for every creature, remember? Did you hear that the last white rhinoceros died in Sudan? That the number of lions on the African continent and tigers in South Asia has dwindled so much that there is nothing to talk about. That the polar bear in the Arctic? — Very rare. You'll be lucky if you see one. Man has managed to exterminate half of the wildlife inhabiting the planet for a couple of decades. For the sake of justice, we shall note that he does not spare similar, upright bipeds and sends them by echelons into the afterlife at the first opportunity. Are dolphins thrown ashore out of nowhere? — Clearly not from a good life, but it is their problem. The oceans (oceans!) are not beaches — they are littered beyond belief. Whose fault is that? — Apparently, aliens. Not those from distant stars, but for us. We are aliens on Earth. They came and went, leaving behind mountains of garbage. Destroyed cities, deserted villages and hamlets. Scorched and cut down forests. The shallowed rivers and lakes. The stinking, suffocating atmosphere — once the air shell of the Earth. Millions killed, maimed. Billions uneducated, poor, hungry.

The Zoological Society of London and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are sounding the alarm: from 1970 to 2014, 60 percent of wild animals on the planet were killed, and even more in America — 89 percent. Isn't this a crime against life on Earth, against the Almighty, because not only man is his creation, but also animal and plant life? And this is human civilization? But then, what is the Stone Age, the primitive system? Where are you going, civilization?

The role of the Creator has been taken over by genetic engineering. It is transforming the world left and right. Carnations used to be exclusively white and red; today, they are whatever you want: blue, yellow, purple, speckled, grayish-brown and crimson. Whatever you want, whatever you want. Doctor's sausage is genetically engineered. The domestic pike is genetically engineered. Bread, milk, meat. What do we even eat?

Have you ever heard of São Paulo having million-dollar pride parades? No? Nowadays, every year, and several times. What are we proud of? That we're genetically engineered. Like sausage. Like sausage!

The Almighty gave up on us long ago. He knew the game wasn't worth playing. But how do we end it without losing face? That's the problem. Having once given manpower over nature, he is no longer happy about it.

Today, thousands of species of living nature are on the verge of extinction because of our hyperactivity: hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts and floods, melting glaciers in Antarctica, tsunamis. We are destroying animal habitats. We have changed the climate to such an extent that there is no turning back. (Some have already realized that we are doomed to extinction and are building dugouts with a three-year supply of food and water as if that will save us. We continue to pollute the air with the tenacity of a serial maniac with industrial waste, burning fossil fuels of hydrocarbons into smoke.

Haven't you realized yet that humanity had entered the last stage of extinction? No? Too bad. Because new cataclysms are ahead of us, when a collision with a giant meteorite, which will pierce through our planet with its mass, like a knife through butter, is a mere trifle. And what will happen when drugs and gambling completely replace virtual reality, which amuses everyone today, from small to large? Is this our future?

Let us finally be honest with ourselves: we are wild, we are crazy, we are disgusting. The other day a leader of a developing country told the world that if there was a nuclear war, his people would go to paradise, and all others would be cooked in a frying pan. He said so without blinking an eye. Or does he already anticipate meeting in paradise with 72 virgins? By the way, his subjects applauded him joyfully. They longed for the same thing: to go as soon as possible to our home columbarium.

— Almighty God! I pray Thee. I do not know how You imagined the human civilization of the future, whether You wanted to make all people free and happy, living in peace and contentment, having shelter and daily bread.

— Why these empty words? What you are asking for are a mirage and a fantasy. If I do so, the day will come, the hour will come, and cruel rulers will take away from the weak what I gave you, and from the poor the last, and everything will go back to the way it was before. Life on Earth could have been free and happy for you, but you were not worthy of it. You do not notice the evil irony in the fact that, created by God's will as His image and likeness, you remained in captivity of animal passions, and all your aspirations can be described in a few words: money, gluttony, sex, greed, envy, pride, stealing and lying. But I don't blame myself: I am not a world chess champion that I could have foreseen all the options. And it is not for you to hold me accountable for my actions.

— But don't you see how we suffer, how we pray daily for the forgiveness of our sins and fall at your feet? Give us a chance.

— I know everything. You, however, are scrap to me. I will consider what to do with you, but I'm afraid you won't like it.

— But what will you do to us? Do you find pestilence, pestilence, locusts with thousands of wings, or ugly toads? Have you not permitted us to transgress your laws before in order to ask and receive forgiveness?

— There are rules, and there are exceptions to rules. I allow you that which is profitable and convenient to Me, consistent with My design. Besides, I see no reason and no need to go back to the ten plagues of Egypt all over again. You have already been through this. Judge for yourself: year after year, there are more and more madmen on the planet. That's what your statistics say. All that's left to do is to wait for this critical mass to be assembled to start the reaction of the human race's disintegration. You will do everything with your own hands. It's proven — the domino principle.

— Have mercy. We beseech Thee...

It's probably too late, he thought. Was it so hard to keep the Ten Commandments that you received on Mount Sinai? The simple RULES of CONDUCT in the WAY. Was it difficult to behave humanly in your Home, floating peacefully in interstellar Cosmic Space? Not at all. I don't find a single argument against it. And what have you come to, what have you returned to? Slavery, violence, murder. The world is overflowing with hatred. Your idol is money greed. You are fixated on your career, finances, pleasures, success, whereas you can live here and now in harmony with nature. You consciously took the side of evil. You lack kindness humanity. You don't cry by the hair when you take off your head, is that what they say? I am a merciful and forgiving God, but I am also a punishing God, who rewards according to merit.

Well said, beautifully, "I am the chastening sword" ... It should make an impression. What would I be? Would I be good if I only forgave? — He thought and immediately doubted His own rightness, which was not like Him at all. — Am I mistaken? Things can happen to old men, too. Probably, people have ceased to resemble humans out of despair: you cannot go far from the planet. Life is short, eh? No incentive, so they go crazy little by little. They put up with the merciless harshness of loneliness in the universe today to get hope for a better life in the afterlife tomorrow. What if they were to sign up for life insurance with immortality? Curious to see. A new project? I'll have to think it over at my leisure, consult the Angels, the Devil. You can't decide this in a hurry, out of the blue. People are already whispering behind his back that he is getting old. They will even try to organize a coup d'etat, a colour revolution. They are worse than small, irrational children.

Will the Creator send us Noah's Ark this time? It's hard to say. Probably not. He will put genetically modified black roses on humanity's grave and pronounce something like an epitaph: "For dust you are, and to dust, you shall return...". Adios, amigos! Shalom, chaverim! And if he does throw a lifeline? In the end, He has the last word on whether we will wake up tomorrow morning or not. Who are we to know His will? Users admitted on occasion to the eternal, time-limited connection to the World Wide Web, nothing more.

Quo vadis, Domine? What do you say, Heavenly Father?