Throughout my good eighteen years of living on
Earth, I have never been close to Mother Nature, unlike the environmental
zealots who would relentlessly fight for the betterment of our environment, nor
am I considered a voracious-minded industrialist who would crudely harm nature
without any remorse just to lay their hands on what they wanted. Where do I fit
in then? I am one who you would call an ignorant inhabitant. I love buying new
things to embellish my room, yet I don't recycle. I love being in an air-conditioned
room especially when the temperature is unbearable, yet I don't use one
emitting HCFCs. In short, I don't care what happens to the environment, as long
as I am living comfortably in the moment, because I know the people out there
doing all that they can to conserve the environment was more than enough.
However, this opinion of mine was changed when Mother Nature reached out to me.
What I've said may seem dubious and ridiculous, but it's true.
It all happened during my vacation in the
Carribeans. It was the perfect get-away for a city girl like me, who has been
living her whole life in a concrete jungle. As I lay down by the seashore,
sipping my marmalade Mother made, I closed my eyes, and let my senses reign
supreme. I loved listening to the sound of the ocean waves beating harmoniously
against the white sands. Casuarina trees rustled in unisons as the fresh breeze
blew through. Under my Ray-ban shades, I could feel the rays of the beaming sun
shining down on me, supplying me with sufficient Vitamin D and of course, a
natural tan. The warmth that I am feeling now is something no one can ever
understand- like a quilt blanket being wrapped around a freezing child in
winter; cozy and comforting. I soon began to drift away with my vicarious
imagination when suddenly, I heard a distant voice calling out my name.
"Dear child, dear child, come
to me", it said.
"Who is it?", I asked,
with a dreamy voice.
"I am the place you live, the
place you breathe; I am your Mother".
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't high on drugs or
alcohol. Deep down I knew that I was to shout for help and not go to the voice,
but my instincts overpowered my rationality. As if I knew that the voice could
understand me, I gave a slight nod as a silent consent with my eyes still
closed. It felt as if I was floating in the air. I let that feeling swarmed
through me because it was such a nice surge of emotion. The voice grew louder
and louder, and it said,
Dear Child, let me tell you a story,
From which you will learn about my history,
These are my heartfelt words to you,
And I hope my message gets through,
From way back I remember being pure
My attributes, mankind adore
Animals lived in times of old
Man was rich with crops not gold
From my body they learned to survive
Hardly any sickness, they were strong and alive
My ozone layer, they loved oh so much
My fossil fuels, left untouched.
I blessed them with summer sun
And what happiness I have brought on each one
Sunset at dawn of every day
Just watching it melts their stress everyday
At night, moon and stars shine so bright
And darkness bears no fright
My mountains grew up high
As though they were reaching for the sky
In autumn wind, blossoms fell
On the roasted-like leaves, man began to dwell
As a fond mother, I fawned over my children
And this may be why today I am barren
I was confused with Mother Nature's grief. I
replied her messages with a stanza:
Dear Mother Nature, that's where you lost me
Man has done so much, why do you still plea?
From a barren earth we embellished you nicely
With skyscrapers and monuments juxtaposed promisingly
Your environmental troops have defended you with findings
With HCFCs and unleaded petrol to protect your lining
They fought and demonstrated to protect your sanctity,
Which I see is progressing finely
This is why I don't understand you
As to why you do the things you do
At times you are humble then moody the next
Is it because Babylon corrupted you and made you vex?
You cry with so much anger, not forgetting rage
I guess we haven't learn anything about you, all this time and age
Maybe I am wrong, but your reasons I yearn
Please Mother Nature, tell me so I'll learn
She replied,
As grateful as I am to my environmental troops
To what extend will it do when the ones who care are only a few?
The crass industrialists, they can't defeat
As they crudely explored me like a treat
Plutos sons multiplied on Earth
Maximizing my potentials to their worth
These Babylonians have shown me no respect
Their science and knowledge they wanted to eject
Into my system, corrupting me so
I was hurting so much, they don't even know
The rain you see, it is me crying
To moisten my body, preventing me dying.
When the wind gets so strong it's because I can't bear
As a form of anger I declare
The Babylonians remodeled me boldly
So through earthquakes I reshaped my body
The volcanoes I erupted to purify the land
But man destroyed it with sinful plans
I sent hurricanes not to cause anguish or pain
Yet as a reminder of how strong I reign
So now that I am being austere
My Child, I hope I have made it clear
I am your Mother, not your enemy
So please preserve my natural beauty
It soon dawned on me that my actions, together
with irresponsible human beings living on the kindness and mercy on Mother
Nature were hurting her. We were unable to resist the lure of our lifestyles,
the attraction of our conveniences. All this while, I had been bloated with
pride at our successful attempts in overcoming nature's disasters, and was
utterly smitten with the idea that nature could rarely infringe on our desires
to move whimsically about the world. I was oblivious to the fact that the
resources in this world is not unlimited. I regretted my previous actions for
perilously ignoring the deep connections among our lifestyles to the
environment. For now, I've received her message, and I will chip as much effort
as I can to help protect the place where we all call home.
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