Guns and Roses

 

Dear Mom,

I am doing fine, how have you and father been?

I miss home. The "government" school provides for us but their mannerisms do not come close to how we live. 

The polluted air of this concrete jungle wraps around my lungs like a predatory snake. The serene silence of home evades me, and I can't seem to find my place. The tranquility of sleep escapes me as the toxicity of this new world infiltrates my consciousness - it deeply disturbs me how the people of urban don't seem to value what Mother Nature offers them. 

Just today, a "friend" of mine stomped on a plant without an inkling of remorse, and when I exclaimed that the poor thing possesses a soul, all he did was laugh in my face!!!

Perhaps they don't even respect their ancestral spirits: their guides and their protectors, and their resting place; why do I even doubt their evil intentions with the way they mercilessly drill holes into the Earth and contaminate it with their agents of ruin - the persons here entitle themselves rightful for causes of destruction. They think they are superior just because they can think!

For them, every tree exists to be cut down, every river exists to be polluted, every inch of land exists to be stripped of its life and the moon exists simply to be “photogenic” (their words, not mine). The value of everything is reduced to being exploited, and it breaks my heart to see something that I feel so protective of and connected to, be wrecked with so utter lack of ruth.

 

I remember how my heart would swell joyfully simply by being wrapped by the world around us, in the lap of a sacred treasure that forms an integral part of who I am - of who we are. I wonder whether the people of urban realize that they exist because Mother Nature exists, that when nature thrives, they thrive. I wish one of Father’s lectures could drill through their technology-crazed minds and explain to them the sheer necessity of living in harmony with nature, the way he has taught our Village all these years. 

When I tried to explain it, my friends shushed me and started talking about some Guns and Roses - the only meaning I see in it is that they want to shoot our rosy world with their machines. 

I know it was my choice to try and learn the ways of the evolved man - but is it too much to ask for simple gratitude? I do not ask this man to sing and dance around the wooden fire as they seem to portray us in their channels of entertainment: as they ridicule our rituals, like the Water Blessing Ceremony*, or the Smudging** - but would simple reverence to the Mother who bred you, who raised you, who sacrificed for you - take too much of a toll on their lavish lifestyles?

Mother, I wish out of the kindness I feel for these pitiful souls that the Great Spirit blunts its harsh treatments when it exacts justice. I cannot expect the same from Mother Nature - The Old Man relents sometimes, but you can never tell with her.

Yours lovingly,

Your dutiful son. 

*Water Blessing Ceremony: Ceremonies conducted to purify, heal, and show gratitude for this essential resource. Participants usually pray, sing, and make offerings to water sources, such as rivers, lakes, or springs.

**Smudging: A ritual that involves burning sacred herbs like sage, cedar, or sweetgrass to cleanse and purify individuals, objects, and spaces. The smoke is believed to spread prayers and positive energy among the spirits.

Note: This is a translated letter of every indigenous person ever, all across the world. So, the next time you harm Mother Nature, remember that even if you don’t believe you’re destroying your own home, you’re destroying someone else’s.

• Hiya Panjabi and Niyati Bhat