The Cry for Help
She was slowly dying… She had been burnt by raging forest fires; submerged by flood water; parched by droughts and buffeted by hurricanes. Her strength was failing and she was barely hanging on to life.
She could only look on with increasing despair as her life blood slowly drained away from her weakening body. They took what they wanted without any consideration for her or her friends and family. As they all rushed here and there without a care, with every felled tree she gasped for air. Her lungs were slowly being destroyed.
Some people heard her cries for help and took action to ease her plight…. She told them, “It’s not too late. I can still be saved.”
However, the cruel treatment from her abusers continued so in despair she summoned her last vestiges of energy and cried again for help. Her cry spread round the world like wildfire via the planes polluting the skies. It was too loud to ignore, as more and more people were affected. Their lungs were struggling like hers and they couldn’t breathe. Like a power grid shutting down, one by one, cities and towns were forced into lock-down. Overnight they became ghost towns. Schools, offices, factories, pubs, cafés and restaurants closed.
At first there was panic and, like locusts, they stripped the shelves bare without a care for those less fortunate than themselves. Then as they took time to reflect, they spent time with nature. She had wrapped her motherly arms around them to heal their pain and anguish.
She had blessed them with fine weather. Blue skies became bluer as planes no longer flew. Engines no longer idled in the gridlocked streets of towns and cities choking her lungs and consuming her ever-depleting energy supplies. No longer competing with the bustle of morning commutes, birds sang their dawn chorus loud, clear and full of hope. Wildlife returned to areas so long out of bounds to them. She could see fish swimming in canals clear of pollution for the first time in decades of filth.
Too many had died in the battle to save her but she knew that where love is left behind in hearts then hope lives on. Many people made sacrifices; others thought they were safe from harm and so they ignored the nation’s plight. If they died it would serve them right, but how many innocent lives would their selfishness take? She had given political leaders time to react and save as many lives as possible. They had time to halt the spread but instead they came up with slogans and confused advice.
She felt the pain of every life lost. “If only it hadn’t come to this.” she sighed. The loss of so many of her children was so painful. There was much kindness too. Neighbours spoke to each other for the first time. Strangers set up support networks for the extremely vulnerable. Rainbows of hope were displayed in windows. Once a week they clapped for their key workers. They finally realised how much they relied on so many with poorly paid jobs as well as the health workers who were on the “front-line” in hospitals and clinics. All they asked in return was for us to stay at home. The “new normal” became an expression. What is it? What do we want? Is there still time to change?
She mused, “Why didn’t you listen sooner? We could have saved so much pain. The suffering will linger long into the future.” She hoped to survive.
She whispered, “It’s not too late, I will hold your loved ones tight. You are all my children and all lives matter, but first you must save me. Only then can we all survive and make this world a better place where we are all glad to be alive. I am Mother Earth and every living creature matters.
Labels: Covid-19