Simplified Laws Guide to Taxation and Legal Concern Back in 2020 and 2021, the world sounded different.
The pandemic had humbled humanity. Cities fell silent. Roads were empty. Skies looked cleaner. For a brief moment, modern civilization appeared helpless before nature. A common belief began to circulate: the post-COVID world would not be the same. People would become kinder. Greed would reduce. Hoarding of wealth would seem meaningless. Humanity would become more compassionate and more balanced.
It sounded convincing then.
Then came the language of carbon credits, sustainability, emissions, responsible living, and ESG frameworks. Businesses, governments, consultants, investors, podcasters, and commentators all seemed to agree that the future had to be greener, cleaner, and more responsible. Even small matters were recast through an ethical lens: food had to be organic, lifestyles had to be healthier, and consumption had to be more conscious.
It felt as though humanity had finally learnt its lesson.
But fast forward just three or four years.
The world is once again defined by war, insecurity, markets, territory, strategic interests, and power. The Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Palestine conflict, India-Pakistan tensions, and now the Iran-US confrontation remind us how quickly the old realities return. The language of idealism has disappeared, history seems to have gone back to its familiar themes: survival, security, dominance, profit, and fear.
Even in everyday life, the old patterns are visible. Wealth has not stopped accumulating; in many places, it is concentrating faster than ever. Real estate prices in prime localities continue to rise to astonishing levels, and buyers still line up. As for health-conscious living, one only has to look at the queues outside restaurants serving exactly the kind of food people publicly condemn.
So what should we make of this?
Perhaps the answer is simple, even if uncomfortable: human instincts remain largely the same. Major events do not fundamentally change them. They make us speak in a nobler language for a while, but they do not rewrite our basic nature.
The epics understood this long before modern commentary did. Whether one looks at the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, or contemporary society, the underlying drivers remain familiar: ego, jealousy, ambition, desire, fear, greed, attachment, and the search for pleasure or advantage. Technology changes. Slogans change. Policy vocabulary changes. But the human heart does not transform so easily.
And perhaps the wiser view is this: no pandemic, no war, no personal loss, no untimely death around us can permanently change people on a mass scale. Such events may shake us deeply, but only for a while. Life moves on, and we move with it, carrying the same instincts into newer times under newer slogans.
The world changes often. Human nature, far less.
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