One day, I was taking a walk on a beach when my feet got trapped in a fishnet lying around in abundance. As I bent to untangle myself, I was surprised to see a small turtle trapped in it too and crying for help in a very feeble voice. Though the sun felt like happiness soaking into my skin, the waves sounding like music to my ears, laughter and smiles filling the atmosphere all around…I suddenly felt trapped in the sense of guilt that humanity had drifted to oblivion. When I freed the turtle, I could feel his teeny-weeny tail wagging in gratitude for being rescued and that struck me harder. With no second thought, I hurriedly cuddled him up in the warmth of my palms and drove him right home to place a splint to fix up his broken limb. Though in discomfort, what gleam of gratitude sparkled from his tiny eyes, giving me a sense of joy I had never experienced before.
Days passed, both of us got so deeply bound in each other’s company until that day arrived when I sensed a vacuum in him despite the care I rendered and the bond we enjoyed. I pondered, what could it be? Though I gave him a home away from home, he still missed his fellow mates and of course, his natural habitat.
Now that I had figured out the reason for his gloom, though with a heavy heart, I set out the very next day to march the little fellow home. What excitement it was for him when his little feet touched the seashore and he was all set to be sailing away to his paradise, the womb that nurtured him. As he went gliding down my palms, we both bid farewell with words unsaid but with feelings fully loaded in a moment, not knowing if we would ever meet again. But for sure it was a picture I had captured in my heart, to be cherished for a lifetime. My eyes welled up as I saw him sail through, but my heart was fully contented and I realised what true humanity could bring to both the beast and the being.
Almost all the time, we humans are so habited to setting up a fancy cage to hear a bird’s chirp and enjoy its amazing beauty, but not once thought of planting a tree instead, to feast our ears and eyes naturally on the bird’s sweet melody and vibrant colours. How ruthless have we gotten in our greed to attain supremacy that we have lost our ethereal beauty of being human?
If these heart-wrecking incidents still don’t teach us what we’ve lost (nature) and what we’ve earned (our lesson), I don’t know what can. It pains me to say, if we don’t learn co-existence now, nature will find extreme ways to claim its space back.
