‘Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.’
This quote from Harper Lee’s timeless American novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ alluded to how killing a mockingbird was as sinful as hurting an innocent creature , beings who have done no harm to others, who are generous without an ounce of hatred in their hearts. Now apply the same to your everyday life, who do we take for granted the most - our parents or siblings, friends maybe? Yes we are guilty of that crime at times but think harder; whom we exploit the most throughout our life, every moment that we live. NATURE. From the time we are born and till the day we die we might not have our loved ones around us, yet, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the materials we use to build, landscapes we enjoy are all a gift of mother Nature. The ever giving nurturing Nature is a living, throbbing and ever present force encompassing our life. And yet it never asks for anything in return.
The recent pandemic has made us introspect about the fragility of our existence. All the things we take for granted seem beyond our reach as of now. The freedom to go out, enjoying vacations with family and friends seem like a distant memory as the pandemic completes more than a year amongst us. Importantly, the question remains do we understand the intrinsic relation between our well being and the balance of Nature. It is now well known how the virus might have been modified in a Chinese lab; how we tried to play God and modify nature itself. We have failed to draw the line when it comes to exploiting the environment around us. Our unbound greed merged with our need for materialistic pleasure only leads us to disaster.
The simple fact that as more humans stayed at home due to the virus the better Earth healed itself, pointing an accusatory finger at us showing how we have destroyed our own environment, the only one we have. We have stopped thinking about our immediate well-being, about our future generations; a selfish thought no doubt but even if this makes us rethink our decisions, so be it. Aspirations and ambitions will be there, however we have to realise when we cross the threshold and the same virtues turn into vice.
One thing we can be sure of is that Nature knows its cure. It has for millions of years pervaded across this planet and it has always found its way forward. It has wiped out living beings like we swat flies. Ice ages, floods, super storms, droughts, Nature has its ways to balance the ecosystem. Yet our naiveté makes us think we rule Earth merely because we are more advanced than other animals. In 2021 alone UK, US and Canada have seen unprecedented heat waves, there are unstoppable wildfires raging across Siberian forests releasing unimaginable amount of greenhouse gases and cyclones have become a new normal for eastern and western coastlines of India.
We can’t afford to wait and watch. Climate change is a reality and the dangers are imminent. The only way to have a safe future is to change; change the way we interact with our environment and take collective responsibility to uplift our natural habitat. Change is now!
