Feet covered with sand, basked beneath the hot summer sun, feeling the warm sea breeze and enjoying the scenery of the pristine beach far from the busy streets of the city, I’m walking by the shore taking pictures of anything that catches my attention. Filling my heart with the joy of bonding with nature, I relished the moment of simplicity and serenity.
Amidst my little relaxing seaside adventure, I heard a soft crying voice among the waves.
The most anticipated part of the year, summer came with its grandeur fiery entrance of scorching hot weather. Along with the blistering temperature, it is also the vacation time for the students taking their breaks from the head-breaking corners of their classrooms. With adventurous feet taking people anywhere, from sandy beaches, pebbly rivers, leafy forests to rocky caves and mountains, people are holdin’ on to the wonders of the earth for fun.
Sanded and beached, we had our team-building activity in a lavish beachfront resort. I enjoyed the activity I had the chance to know my colleagues and the company well even though I only landed in the editorial board for a few weeks. Knowing your co-workers is great way to improve the performance of your office as a whole.
After the hearty activities, I held the camera and had a little picture taking on the beachfront pretty far from the resort, until my lens caught something.
Among the crawling crabs, bright in color, you’d realize its something unpleasant you’d rather not to see during your trip. Plastics varying from chips, laundry powders and soaps, plastic bags, straw and even diapers, small to large ones, there was a lot of rubbish in a small stretch of sand. I went back to the resort, left the camera and went back.
Hearing the voiceless call among the waves, I started picking up the garbage. Eventually I filled a large plastic bag with trash. Imagining how these man-made products might scar the masterpiece of mother earth, I sat and rested. I remembered watching videos of poor animals suffering and dying because of these wrong doings.
Imagine how summer might turn up prettier if every soul enjoying their vacations and give a little time for nature, not just time for fun but time for sympathy and love for the nature through reducing the damage done by the most intelligent species in the world, us humans who are the supposed stewards of nature.
Let’s stop the stupidity and ignorance. Let’s stop clogging our ears with pennies and blindfolding your eyes with money and start hearing and seeing what is happening accompanied by dirtying your hands and feet bonding with the earth with love and care. Yes, there are a lot of people sharing and posting in social media who hear and see about environmental protection but who among them are really taking action?
Let’s not just wait for the government or NGOs to conduct activities regarding the nature but let’s start with ourselves through little things. Let’s not just participate in social media but in actual conservation of the environment through different activities so that you’ll stop doing nothing, sitting and laying lousily, and start doing something productive and helpful for the environment. When will we take action? When will we start loving? What’ll we take care for if everything is gone?
I have hopes for the humanity. Holding hands together, embracing the earth, we can fix this.