Dear Mother Earth,
I hope we have not disappointed you too much. Times were so much more simple when we were younger. Now, I write to you concerned. You have given us everything we could need and we turned our backs on you. We are destroying you and destroying ourselves. I remember when I was younger and my friends and I would climb trees under blue skies or fly kites with the help of your gentle breeze. I remember sliding through the wet grass on a rainy day or using your bushes as bases during our weekly kickball games. Now, though, times are different. Times are changing. Your blue skies reflect something different now. It reflects hatred, ill will, and intolerance. It reflects systemic oppression and violence. Under your blue skies, police kill black men in broad daylight. At the same time your gentle breeze blows, political leaders incite violence towards minorities. As the sun shines, people are senselessly dying from an out of control virus we refuse to tame. While your rain falls, immigrants are being separated from their families, chants of black lives matter echo through the streets, and the LGBTQIA+ community still fight for their basic rights to be protected. I am frustrated and sad that you see us like this. Even in a time where all humans should come together; a time during a global pandemic which affects us all, we remain divided on matters of health and safety. We would rather let politics get in the way of protecting ourselves, protecting our families, and protecting our neighbors. Privilege coats this society like your clouds before a thunderstorm. We have also turned our back on you. We have destroyed your beauty for our selfish gains. We have overindulged in the resources you provided us. We have taken too much and not given enough. I know that is why you are angry. I know that is why you ravage yourself with scorching heat and fires, destructive hurricanes and tornados, and life altering floods and droughts. We have turned our backs on you and each other. Things look a little different than they did when we were younger, but I am optimistic. I am hopeful that these pains are just growing pains and we will become stronger together. I am hopeful that with the proper leadership and the passion of activists, our divided wounds will heal. I am also hopeful that we are awoken to the catastrophic way we are treating you. For our society to prosper, we need each other and we need you. Someday soon, I hope you smile back on us as I once smiled back to you.
With love,
Jordan Mason