By the Power Invested in Us

Dear whoever's up there controlling my life,

Today, I would like to give thanks for humans. Yes, humans. Mankind. Homo sapiens. Whatever you call them. I think humans are brilliant. They are smart, creative, and incredibly confident. Because of them, I am a better version of myself. They have helped me in ways no one could ever imagine and constantly seek improvement for the betterment of my life. I truly appreciate all their efforts and I believe that one day, humans will achieve perfection for the world they live in.

They have already perfected the art of civilization, where all the rules and regulations of the human way are written in black and white. Their corporations, their governments, even the average humans use words on paper to maintain their lives. They start from young, from sketching on pieces of drawing block to writing endless essays and workings on foolscap paper. When they become adults, proposals, contracts and blueprints become the way of the business people. Pretty much everything is done on paper. My paper. Right from the start when those Egyptians discovered the usefulness of papyrus, as they call it, I was there to see it all progress. I am the provider, they rely on me. And I sincerely thank them for taking such good care of me. They regularly visit my forests and keep them nicely manicured, cutting down thousands of trees each time with increasing pace. It's nice to know I'm always on their minds. It seems to me they don't really care that what they take is much more than what they give back. Trees the nice humans plant and grow to counter deforestation will never balance out those being cut down. Oh well, whatever floats their boat. I just hope they don't come crying to me when their oxygen runs out.

Human's creativity has also certainly helped their progress by leaps and bounds. They realized very early on that there was land far beyond their own, and like curious infants in their development, they wanted to explore everywhere they could endeavour. Where they were obstructed by water, the humans would overcome the obstacle by building transportation contraptions. Bridges, rafts and most notably of all, ships. These ships can sail across vast oceans, manoeuvre over crashing waves and still keep humans alive despite what I summon their way. This ingenious mode of transport is currently one of the most prevalent ways for importing and exporting goods. Humans use ships to move everything from furniture to food and the most lucrative, fuel. And to be honest, it's fine by me that the humans use me to make money; because if they are successful, so will I. In spite of their flourishing sea trade, humans, as bright and imaginative as they are, find ways to cut costs and "improve efficiency". Frequent oil spills are not unheard of, dumping garbage into the sea has become the norm, and humans have the cheek to declare "Save our Seas" as their new eco-friendly campaign title. Humans, little hypocritical creatures indeed. I honestly have no idea what they are trying to achieve, but having been here millennia longer than them, I would like to give some friendly advice: all of you have to start from the same page before writing the story. You can't have someone writing the words and others erasing words off the previous page.

On another note, I often admire how those beautiful female specimens of the human race strut and sway their behinds on a runway. Their air of confidence is really inspiring, how they can ignore the invisible arrows, about their skin-and-bones type figure or the opposite, those areas of flab around their thighs or arms, being shot from the scrutinizing eyes of the audience. I guess the same goes for the humans of the factories, allowing their property to huff and puff pollutants into the air. To the humans, the smog means goods are being produced, and selling the goods means money, and we all know money makes the world move. Well excuse me, but money doesn't make me move an inch. How they can be oblivious to the symptoms astounds me. The increasingly smouldering heat, the "sinking" islands, the mucked-up ecosystems. Climate change is one of the most talked about topics across the globe, from being discussed during geography lessons in neighbourhood schools to holding international conventions. But yet, notwithstanding their efforts, the global temperatures are still creeping upwards one degree Celsius at a time. I'll leave them with this: don't make a promise if you can't keep it and don't say it if you don't mean it.

Alright, I guess this will be my last letter to you, my great and almighty Creator, before I die and a new soul takes over my role and a new human race is created. I think it'll be quite soon, considering the current circumstances... While there's still a part of me (out of my three elements, earth, water and air, I'm not sure which one) that hopes for miracles, I suppose I should be stingier with my faith in humans. Anyway, I'm off to "enjoy" what's left of my time here!

Yours faithfully,

Mother Nature

Cover image from Shutterstock, by artist BlurBlur.