MOTHER! FORGIVE ME!
My mother is (was) good and loving to her children. I am one of her many children. She provided us with our basic needs. She ensured there was food to soothe our hungry stomachs. We were always sheltered by warmth. She took it upon herself to ensure we received what we needed to live and enjoy life.
However, we did not reciprocate the good deeds. We became greedy. We began nagging her and asking her for more than she gave us. We were unappreciative of what she provided us. We would occasionally rob her of a few pennies here and there. In a short while, we were disrespecting her both in public and private. We exploited her. We sucked everything from her. We spat at her. We ridiculed her. We made fun of her.
In 1997, one of our neighbors who was based at Tokyo warned us. He told us to respect our mother, to appreciate her love and efforts towards us. He in fact encouraged us to reciprocate the good deeds and blessings she would declare upon us. We did not heed to those words. We never tried implementing that advice. Slightly over a decade later (2009), a gathering of neighbors assembled at Copenhagen to decide our fat. However, they were not able to do so since their children were just as unruly and disrespectful.
Our distasteful behavior towards our mother continued. Consequently, the elders held a caucus in Paris to discuss our conduct. They adopted some severe and drastic measures. These measures were meant to instil discipline in us. Little did they know that we were laughing at them and their resolutions. In fact, they gave us the impetus to remain obstinate. Everyone talked but no one listened.
Mother Nature is unleashing her wrath on us, her dear but stubborn children. We have taken so much from nature that it has nothing more to give us, apart from its anger. This anger is in form of change in weather patterns, excessively long droughts, increase in flood rates, and rise in temperature and ocean levels. Recently we witnessed the hallowing nature of our mother’s fury in form of Cyclone Idai and Cyclone Kenneth. Just as governments do not negotiate with terrorists, nature does not negotiate with its enemies. This is as a result of our actions which include: deforestation, rise in carbon emissions and the poor and reckless disposal of plastic waste.
We are bearing the brunt of our actions. It’s not too late to ask for her forgiveness.
“I promise to plant a tree, to avoid single-use plastic material and should I use them, I promise to re-use and to recycle.
Forgive me, Forgive Us, Mother Nature.”
