A few days back I received an unexpected gift.It was given to me by my daughter and it was an essay she wrote for a CBSE project.
I never realized the effect on kids when they see their parents become tree lovers.Its like creating budding plant warriors who understand not only the science ,but the soul behind spending time in nature.
As a family we spend weekends playing outdoor .Rain,sun or cold we have a walk amongst green trees and flowers and recharge our soul.I always wondered why people didn’t spend more time on technology to make spaces green while innovating.Maybe that’s something I need to start trying too.
But if I can’t do it ,I hope all the kids who love plants and trees, find a way back to nature’s lap .
That’s why when I read my daughters essay about a Living Witness, I knew I had to publish it on the blog after the project submission ,so that parents may realize that walking the talk is way more important that talking !
Autobiography of a Mango Tree
I am a Mango tree. I stand tall and proud amid quite a few others! But I am the biggest and oldest!
I have seen things people never even dreamed of. I am a witness to so many activities that happen daily around me. Almost every weekend, on Sunday, two young children climb onto me and swing from my lower branches. They can’t be that old, only around 10 and 12. A big sort of low, circular wall was constructed around me, serving as a resting place. It is still not fully finished, and a work in progress.
The children and their parents don’t seem to mind. The adults sit there and chat, while the children enjoy running around on the wall and getting up as high as possible on the branches. Often, a younger child comes, a girl of only around 3 or 4 years.
She needs the other’s help to get up on the branches. When everyone is tired, they rest and eat the juicy mangoes I bear every mango season. There are so many squirrels and small birds nesting in my leaves! When no one is there with me, they keep me company by scurrying about, looking for food, and chattering all the time.
Once, the area I now reside in was wild. Grass and leaves everywhere. An endless forest. Now some people came along, made the place neat, and made way for a small path so no one would get lost. I guess that had its good points. I get so many visitors on the weekend! But I used to like the quietness too. Me and my fellow mango trees resided in peace. And the area would only be busy during mango picking season. And when we are supposed to be watered by the caretakers. It was calmer. But one of the trees died, too. It turned dark and would not bear leaves anymore. It has been cut down now.
The place is still littered with leaves. We can tell that the sound carries in the calm whenever someone steps into the small forest.
I help so many people. I give humans shade in the sweltering heat. I provide lovely mangoes you can eat raw, or ripe, cut, or pickled. My leaves rustle in the wind to make soothing breezes. I produce mass amounts of oxygen that everyone requires! I am the home of so many small animals.
And what do I get in return?
Humans cut down so many trees every day. With every tree you cut, every life you take away. We too are living beings, We feel pain, just like you do. Oh sure, we don’t run around and move like you do. I often wonder what would happen if we too could have the same mobility as you. But I don’t think that can happen yet. Maybe one day–?
When you cut a tree, you simultaneously do so many bad deeds at once. We can no longer produce oxygen, bear fruits, and give shade. You dislocate so many homes of animals that resided there once. And of course, cutting a tree is just wrong, in whatever aspects you look at it. And yet, I have heard so many people say “Oh, we can cut a tree here, and plant a sapling somewhere else. There’s no harm!”
Large trees produce large amounts of oxygen. Small trees produce small amounts of oxygen.
The logic is as simple as that. So, NO, “there’s no harm” is incorrect. I often feel angry that I can’t speak out and say my opinions. Unfortunately, I don’t have a mouth to talk with, so it makes things a little bit difficult.
So you see-I am a living witness. For human activities, animal world activities, and many more. But not only for that. I witness all the wrong judgments people have. I see every single tree you cut, and feel their pain. I don’t know if this will make an impression on whoever reads it, or not, but I do know that attitudes change very slowly. People refuse to believe they are wrong. They are adamant and try to prove their opinions right.
I cannot see the future, so I don’t know what may happen one day. I just hope that one day, humans will understand the truth in the statement “When all trees are dead, we all shall be dead too, for we cannot live without them.”
This was my daughters school project for a CBSE work on World Environment Day and all rights belong to Anuprita Misra