The day the earth stood still

It was the year 3210, little Ryna was sound asleep when in her dreams appeared people wearing masks running around searching for hospitals and crying for something she had never heard before ‘OXYGEN’.

She wondered what that meant. Every cylinder had that written and she could only ponder what it meant. Something suddenly terrified her in sleep when she saw people fighting with each other amidst all the chaos and she shot up from the bed. She started crying and her parents ran towards her.

Her mother,Charlotte,got worried as to what was bothering her little girl at 3 am. Her father, Chime, hugged his little angel and pacified her saying everything was fine. She told her parents what happened and they knew it was time to tell her.

They started, ”Ryna, this is the story our great grandparents had told us. It was the year 2020 when all our deepest fears turned into reality. Lives had no value and people were unable to comprehend what was going on. There was a terror called COVID-19 that turned peoples lives into the greatest horror story of all times. Children who were away from home couldn’t go to meet their parents, families and had to stay alone. People were falling sick like there was no tomorrow. From running nose to fever they had it all but you know what made things worse ? Nobody knew what would happen the next day. Would it all be gone like a bad dream or would it continue hunting them?

"Ryna, you remember when your teacher asked you to draw nature and you went blank?”
Little Ryna frowned and nodded. “She made you draw tiny little green structures and told you this is how ancient nature looked. Those were called TREES. We lost them when none of us took care of it and it was the earth's revenge on us to make us deprived of them. They used to give out something called Oxygen which was extremely essential for humans. Due to their negligence, ego and greed slowly, slowly every last sapling from the earth was destroyed.

The greenery that made the world a better place to live in had gone in a second. So many people died due to lack of oxygen. They went door to door and were ready to spend millions just to save their family.

 Only if we had taken care earlier and had done the needful we would all be free from the tank behind our backs.
This was not the end of it dear,there was a phenomenon called Global Warming which had become a major issue for the world but do you think anybody would’ve cared ? No. Nobody did. Nothing could suffice the greed of humans. They did what they had to. They cut down trees, moved tiny animals from their habitat and what not. Don’t you think humans had to be punished for it ?”

Ryna was shocked beyond words hearing this. She never knew there was a backstory to her wearing that heavy tank behind her back.
She realised that everything had been wrong and something had to be corrected. Her parents said, "Ryna,you should sleep now. You’ve school tomorrow morning and you need to wake up early.”

With that her parents kissed her forehead and waved goodnight. There was something juggling in Ryna’s mind. She couldn’t sleep and she knew what had to be done.

Next day,when she went to school she had a story to share. When she told them what she had heard the previous night,there was ‘oh’ and ‘no’ from every nook and corner.
Her teacher was happy with the story she had to tell but this was not the end. Ryna had a plan with her. She realised nothing is really over till you actually assume it’s over.
She told her classmates about the little seed she had saved that her great grandmother had kept for her. They decided to plant it and see what would happen. They brought a small vase and added soil to it and planted the seed. Everybody was so proud of the good deed that Ryna had done.

Days passed but nothing helped. The seed was still the same. She suddenly remembered how her parents had once told her about a small jar of WATER that was saved in their ancestral home. She went running and brought it and added drops of it to the seed. In a few days,small branches started appearing from the seed. Nobody could believe their eyes. They saw something green in real for the first time and it was surreal.

For the first time in seven years she removed her tank and smelled the plant. That feeling was exhilarating and astonishing.

That day they realised how important it is to save these precious resources that not only define our present but also our future.

MORAL:- Take care of the resources you’ve today. One day you’ll not realise how they’ve been taken away from you. Take small steps to serve the humanity and nature. Alone you can conquer the world.