I looked out of my window. Several years ago, the view outside was straight out of a picture postcard. Set against a background of blue green mountains and dense evergreens, a host of wild flowers – snow white daisies, pale yellow marigolds and bright red poppies – carpeted the ground. As a kid, I had spent many raucous hours playing there with my friends and as a teenager I had spent many peaceful hours reading under a birch tree. It was Paradise.
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| Image Source: Favim |
The view had changed.
The field was hidden under piles of bricks and all things concrete. A tall building, ironically named ‘Mountain View Apartments’, blocked the lofty greens from view. It has been fifteen years since I last stood by the window, and the repercussions of time has been nothing but cruel.
I made my way to see what remained of the wild flowers, accompanied by a posse of animated nieces and nephews. They were as excited as I was at the prospect of seeing the place I talked so much about.
The lemon tree at the corner of the street was now a tea-shop complete with seedy looking characters conversing in low voices with a glass of tea in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
Change seemed to be the order of the day… after all it has been fifteen years… I braced myself before I turned the last corner leading to the field of wild flowers.
But nothing had prepared me for the sight that lay in front of me. I was at a loss of words. The children were shocked into silence as well.
What remained of the field, not claimed by the concrete jungle, had been converted into a park – perhaps in an effort to conserve the greens – a really ill maintained park.
The flowers were gone. The few trees which remained was etched with the initials of the local love birds. Brightly colored chocolate wrappers, empty bags of chips and plastic bottles lay strewn all over the place – A lone dustbin strangely empty stood at the far side of the park.
Did I take a wrong turn on my way to Paradise?
“Where are the daisies Bela-masi?” asked Tara, the youngest.
“They are gone” I said unable to mask the sadness in my voice, “There is nothing left here. Let’s go.” I turned to leave.
“Wait!” a little voice said. It was Jimmy – at twelve, he was the eldest of the group. “We can’t leave it like this. This is your Paradise.”
I watched as he ran into the park and started picking up the empty packets that lay all over and putting them into the dustbin. Within seconds the other children joined in and eventually I did too.
Problems of the environment and the changes to the climate are not just threats to the Earth. It is a threat to the survival of humankind. We must encourage our children to connect with nature, for unless they learn to appreciate the natural world, we cannot expect them to protect it.
#ShortcutSafaari
The field was hidden under piles of bricks and all things concrete. A tall building, ironically named ‘Mountain View Apartments’, blocked the lofty greens from view. It has been fifteen years since I last stood by the window, and the repercussions of time has been nothing but cruel.
I made my way to see what remained of the wild flowers, accompanied by a posse of animated nieces and nephews. They were as excited as I was at the prospect of seeing the place I talked so much about.
The lemon tree at the corner of the street was now a tea-shop complete with seedy looking characters conversing in low voices with a glass of tea in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
Change seemed to be the order of the day… after all it has been fifteen years… I braced myself before I turned the last corner leading to the field of wild flowers.
But nothing had prepared me for the sight that lay in front of me. I was at a loss of words. The children were shocked into silence as well.
What remained of the field, not claimed by the concrete jungle, had been converted into a park – perhaps in an effort to conserve the greens – a really ill maintained park.
The flowers were gone. The few trees which remained was etched with the initials of the local love birds. Brightly colored chocolate wrappers, empty bags of chips and plastic bottles lay strewn all over the place – A lone dustbin strangely empty stood at the far side of the park.
Did I take a wrong turn on my way to Paradise?
“Where are the daisies Bela-masi?” asked Tara, the youngest.
“They are gone” I said unable to mask the sadness in my voice, “There is nothing left here. Let’s go.” I turned to leave.
“Wait!” a little voice said. It was Jimmy – at twelve, he was the eldest of the group. “We can’t leave it like this. This is your Paradise.”
I watched as he ran into the park and started picking up the empty packets that lay all over and putting them into the dustbin. Within seconds the other children joined in and eventually I did too.
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it” – Robert Swan.
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| Image Source: Upworthy |
Problems of the environment and the changes to the climate are not just threats to the Earth. It is a threat to the survival of humankind. We must encourage our children to connect with nature, for unless they learn to appreciate the natural world, we cannot expect them to protect it.
“Let us leave a splendid legacy for our children… let us turn to them and say, “This you inherit; guard it well, for it is far more precious than money, and once destroyed, nature’s beauty cannot be repurchased at any price.” – Ansel Adams._________________________________________________________________________________
#ShortcutSafaari
“I’m blogging about how I’ll remind kids to press Ctrl+S for nature for the Shortcut Safaari weekend activity at BlogAdda.”
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