By Vanya Nanda
MINIMALISM
I am caught up owning things I do not need, nobody ever told me that this is called 'greed'. Those 30 shoes that my feet adorn, do I just need four or do I need them all? I swear I didn't know how they were born. Do they come from animals? I wasn't informed.
Scores of notebooks lie half used on the shelf, yet I buy new ones since the old ones don't feel quite fresh. I didn't know how many trees that accounts for.
The fragrance of those perfumes that fill up my home, no it can't be strong enough to widen the ozone hole. Those cars that line up my house and fill me with pride, do I use them in a manner that is wise? I really didn't know the carbon they emit.
I've been happy and content in my cocoon
but everything changed one afternoon.
While I was marching with pride at one of those save the trees protests, nature whispered something that put my mind to unrest. I am happy that you love me dear, but it is your future that you should fear. What use of this sleepwalking battalion if you abuse the environment in all your overwhelming mirage.
That whisper was like a blow in my head!
A tiny little voice inside me said ' It's
time to rethink this access, stop, breathe, think and own this mess.’ Should I make that extra
purchase for those material possessions
that I don't even need? Do I need those plastic bags that I hardly use? Do I even need those
compatible substances? It's our resources which are deployed to even recycle
and reduce.
I must detach my self worth from things that I own. I must treat this earth well. My footprint should be tiny, as tiny as it can get.
Perhaps even nectar is poisonous if taken
to excess. We must care for the environment.
Let's build knowledge to meet climate change. Let's build our future together.
Don't count till ten, it is too late now. When nature has a way of telling us that we were on a path of self destruction, and has stopped us in our tracks. Did she want us to see what we would have never seen otherwise? The clear blue skies, minimum pollution levels, clear rivers, here in India, the air has never been so clean, the yamuna has never looked so blue. during covid 19 we are discovering minimalism by chance. Post crisis, let this be a habit taken up by choice.
This can be a time of reflection and
understanding where we learn from our mistakes or it can be the start of a new
cycle which will continue until we finally learn the lesson that we are meant
to.
