Today we should have landed in New York from Barcelona. We would have walked the Central Park Reservoir to take in some fresh air and loosen up our bodies after the long flight.
Grandma and Grandpa would have received us with the eternal happiness that shines in their eyes… always unforgettable.
Dear Mother Earth,
But this time we weren’t just coming in for a visit, the four of us were on a mission: to shout to the world that we need to act now. Shout to the world from the streets of New York that this needs to stop, that we all need to do our part, plant a seed to help stop destroying you, and at the same time, stop destroying ourselves.
We were coming to ask the world for a commitment, from the loudspeaker that is the City of New York.
We were coming to celebrate your day.
To thank you, to give thanks, and to feel you alive and breathing.
We were invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day Initiative. Together we were going to tell the world that enough is enough, we can longer treat you like this, treat ourselves like this, that we need to end this absurd cycle of living in constant crisis… but it wasn’t necessary, human greed and vanity drove you to the breaking point and this destructive “war” appeared dressed up as a pandemic: Coronavirus. How fragile are we. Such superiority, and we’re only fooling ourselves. Now we see how fragile we really are.
You, Mother Earth, give us shelter, the oxygen we breathe, and the food we eat.
These days, after 5 weeks of home isolation, we see you spring back to life, we see how freely you express yourself in the seas, rivers, and clean air, clear skies; animals taking land back that we had stolen from them. Now we see you even more beautiful, brighter, full of color and happiness.
How naive and simple of us to think that shouting to act we would achieve this when in reality you don’t need us. The truth is how much we need you.
We only wish that you can continue to enjoy yourself during our isolation. And for us, to act a little more “human” and think. We have a tremendous opportunity to reflect on what we’ve been doing up to this point.
Dear EARTH, we wish you a happy day.