Dear Mother Nature,

Billions of years ago, an asteroid crashed into another asteroid, thus creating you, our home.

You provide us with water that has the ability to act as a mirror, scenery that makes us feel at peace and mesmerize us at the same time with air so clean and pure. We do not even notice.

There are no amount of words to describe how incredibly beautiful, generous and forgiving you are. Yet, we continue to take advantage of your kindness.

Since the creation of human civilizations, we have done nothing but abuse you. We made the water thick and dirty, the sceneries full of skyscrapers and factories and air that is so polluted, we can point out the difference.

However, we are now adapted to this type of lifestyle. In fact, we idolize cities possessing skyscrapers serving as the new mountains and man-made lakes that are considered natural.

We even kill our neighbors instead of respecting their presence. At the sight of a bug, we have an urge to kill it. Hollywood loves to demonize sharks along with snakes even though you were their home long before you were ours.

We dump trash into your oceans and build landfills that poison the ground.

The last time I was able to appreciate your beauty was over winter break when I was standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon looking down on the Colorado River, inhaling the purest air. I did not have any technology or city lights disturbing me, it was just you and me. I do not think I had ever felt more at peace.

In contrast, cities such as New York, are suffocating and it often seems as though we are never alone and always in a hustle to run from place to place.

No amount of apologies can take back hundreds of years of torment and injustice, but there must be a point in time where we realize our cruelness and you run out of patience. Right?

You have tried to teach us lessons by shaking the ground at magnitudes up to eight and creating tsunamis large enough to swallow coasts.

But what frightens me most is the day that we prove there are no more lessons to be taught.

Nothing justifies our actions, but it is not too late for us to take a step back and reverse what we have done. We can put restrictions in place to limit the amount of toxins being put into the air and plant trees to restore your once green landscape.

It starts with appreciating and honoring you and it ends with leaving you better than we found you because we were put here to protect you, not destroy you.

Love,

Anika

Follow Anika @anikaarutla