The Tree That Died

This is the picture of a tree that looks like a winter tree. It is a beautiful tree. What do you see in this tree? It has calmness, serenity, winter and beauty. But will this tree flourish when the spring comes? Will it start giving flowers and fruits in the summer? Will it be beautiful when it has no greenery? Will the birds start nesting in it and will the tree become lively again? Will animals and human beings take shelter under this tree?

But this tree will never come out of winter, never see the spring and summer, because it has died of polluted air, water and earth; the surroundings have no goodness left to give to this tree. Nature has looked after it for years and look at it now. It is a bare tree. There will be no continuity of life. It will not produce seeds that will grow into a big tree.

This tree has never ever asked anything from human beings, its request is not to pollute the surroundings. This tree had been a friend of nature for years but now it will leave no footprints and the surroundings will become a desert.

In the past trees have given us flowers, fruits, wood and shelter; purified the air and water; and left the ground around them unpolluted and enriched with nourishing soil. This tree is dead, decayed and unwanted, no one will come near it to help.

It has no heart, feet, wings. It cannot cry, nor walk, nor fly. has to stay standing in one place and meet its death sentence. It is not more dangerous inside this death sentence than outside in Nature. It has been ignored; now it is going forever from Nature.

Think about the future, be aware of it, what will this world look like, without trees, without birds, without animals. Human beings receive everything from nature. In future so many trees will be cut down; we have been and will be healthy, wealthy and prosperous because of Nature.

Beauty lives in the forest and not in the desert. We can survive in the forest but not in the desert for even one day without food, water and shelter. This tree is an orphan but we too will be orphans in future. There will be no one to feed us, shelter us or care for us, we will be lost in a desert, with no directions, nowhere to go and we shall suffer alone.

This tree is warning us, beware of the future! Because of our greediness, selfishness and ignorance we are damaging it and polluting it. Our contentment should give everyone a happy life to live. Be rich with Nature. When these thoughts come to my mind, they make me sad. I cannot do anything but only pray and write my stories, my poetry or paint a picture and pass the message of goodwill.

In the next one hundred years the damage to our earth, air and water will be so great that it will take years to come back or, perhaps, never. Whatever we do we must think now; this is not modernisation. We are not far from this situation now. We will suffer the same fate as this tree, but we will be alone in nature and rot. Love of this tree is pure.

Human beings should feel guilty about their conduct.
'Guilty' is a word, but a 'sentence' is a long-lasting imprisonment within barbed-wire fencing.

A green beautiful tree.                    A dead beautiful tree.

This black and white picture was drawn by Manjula Parekh

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