Kamal Kanta Dhungel
A man was searching for a shelter in the dark to save himself from rain. The road passing through a dense forest seemed solitary. No one had dared to move as the rain was accompanied by terrible hailstones. The only friend with the man was the sound of rain. No chirping of birds, no howling of jackal, no barking of dogs, no noise of vehicles, no weeping of children…as if the entire population had migrated to another planet.
It was a very busy road. The crowd was too thick to penetrate. Where had the people there gone? Nature, you know, is often very bizarre and hard to extrapolate. It has the capacity to mold the people’s activity as per its desire. Otherwise, how a disdainful rain could halt people’s activities?
There are two facets of nature. One face helps to demystify people’s life by fulfilling their basic needs whereas the other face is so cruel that it adds plight to their life. In other words, nature is a creator as well as a demolisher.
The man got somehow scared of the silence contaminated with the loud sound of thunder and sparks of lightning. He thanked the shelter. Otherwise, he would have nowhere-to-go in that harsh weather. He got at least a roof to protect him. “Shelter is really a godsend to the humans,” he murmured.
As he breathed a sigh of relief, he moved his eyes three hundred and sixty degrees and found that a gigantic body was standing by the road without an umbrella. He felt pity for it cordially.
It wasn’t moving an inch even if there was a continuous bombardment by rain and hailstones. It wasn’t screaming. It hadn’t worn any stylish attires to cover its body; however, it wasn’t shivering in such a challenging weather. It was silent. It was steadfast.
It is a living body. We live under its patronage. It is unceasingly beaten by wind, hurricane, sunstroke, hailstones, rains, and even attacked by herbivores; however, it doesn’t hesitate to protect every creature inhabiting on this planet. It doesn’t forget its responsibilities however harsh the situation is. It engulfs most of the pollutants and gives us healthy atmosphere. It absorbs noise and keeps our neighborhood silent. This planet got its green color due to its omnipresence. It has made our planet habitable. It remains hungry or thirsty though it provides food and shelter for us. It provides us the basic and vital element of life such as nutrition and oxygen. It never stops helping us. Without this, our life would be impossible. It provides us shade and makes us cool even in the hard sunstroke. Can you guess what it is? It is obviously a self-feeding, green colored tree. We are bound symbiotically with them.
Being humans, isn’t it our responsibility to love and protect trees?
