The Earth I Want to See When I Grow Up
Our Earth started out as nothing but a lifeless rock, a negligible piece of a huge explosion. Now, with one-hundred-ninety-two countries, their jigsaw put together as seven massive continents, a population of seven billion, with millions of scientific, innovative, artistic, unique minds, our planet is magical! I feel fortunate to live on Earth but it is still far from my idea of a perfect world.
As I write this, Michael Jackson’s ‘Earth Song’ plays in my mind:
“What have we done to the world
Look what we've done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son...”
The Earth today seems corrupt with raiders, prevaricators and fraudsters. I am not declaring our planet dishonest, because there are, indeed, abundant intellectual, honest, hard-working, sensible people who think, say and intend not only for themselves, but for others too. We need more such people.
Our Earth is losing many species of fauna that are on the verge of extinction; with heavy pollution, life seems languishing; there is water scarcity; children are made to labour; people of low social status are denied justice, education and healthcare; earthlings are starving due to improper facilities; soldiers are dying at the borders because their nations chose war over camaraderie.
There are multiple dismaying dilemmas, and even though these do not directly affect us as students, or even as citizens of a particular country, these do affect millions of people who are disregarded and ignored.
The future I wish for, will be unselfish, erudite, friendly, dauntless, brave and honest. It will have justice for all, education for all, services for all. It will preserve our environment from all reprehensible and perilous deeds that have supported destruction so far.
My future world shall have fresh inventions, and innovations, to make life simple. There would be flying cars and other levitating vehicles to make travel easy. Large water purifiers to decontaminate salty sea-water would be a boon as these could increase the percentage of drinking-water on earth.
I would want to see a lush green earth when I grow up. With so much pollution, our world looks more like the dumpster Uranus than a beautiful, life-supporting Earth! Where mile-long forests used to proudly touch the sky with their canopies, there now stand concrete masses destroying our ecosystems. The world looks better painted green and blue than grey and black, doesn’t it?
Water bodies streaked with plastic; air coated with smoke; even our protector, the ozone layer, is backing out. Afforestation is the key solution.
Coming to the political issues of poverty and discrimination; I would want my future Earth to be fair and just. Millions of children are sent off to labour once they can firmly plant their feet on ground. But, we cannot truly blame the families; they suffer from such economic weakness that they cannot afford to have a source of income sit idle. Employment opportunities, free education, subsidised healthcare and daily amenity rates for the poor should be introduced by governments throughout the world, whether of the 43 monarchies or the 100 plus democracies.
Countries with caste systems should scrap such illogical distinctions. People cannot be judged on the basis of their birth. How is it proclaimed a poor man’s fault to be born poor, or a rich man’s privilege to be born affluent?
There is discrimination even on the basis of religion. One such appropriate example is of the never-ending conflicts between Hindu and Muslim communities. Even though India and Pakistan keep signing peace agreements, innumerable terrorist attacks keep occurring. Why? Primarily because of religious differences.
Discrimination based on complexion is also quite conspicuous in our society. I do not understand why, people prefer light-skin to dark-tones. Why and how does one’s skin colour define anything about people and their personalities? All these specious sayings are garbage. Nelson Mandela was not fair; he was dark, and led the fight against apartheid in South Africa towards independence.
We also hear a lot about body-shaming that leads, especially youngsters, towards low self-esteem because of their weight and body-type. Such mind-blocks must go.
These are only some major problems being faced by our planet, according to me. I believe in a green, clean, just, honest, democratic, educated and blissful future. I believe that we, the youth of today’s Earth, should not just say what we will do… we should do what we are saying.
As I end this, I find myself humming Michael Jackson’s ‘Planet Earth’ song:
“Planet Earth, gentle and blue
With all my heart, I love you.”
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