Earth Day April 22

April 22 is Earth Day. It digitally asks us to get off the phone for a minute and appreciate that all things come from the ground we walk on. Trees for example. We regard them as a nuisance because we rake leaves.

Trees are cute in the fall, with their pretty leaves, but ugly in winter, naked and brown. Earth Day is meaningless to farmers. Everyday is Earth Day.

They are at nature’s mercy. The earth doesn’t produce when the sun preens itself for months. Rain doesn’t bring relief if it finally arrives in the form of floods.

We, who live on concrete streets call the earth dirty, something we avoid at all costs. It smells poverty. Can you imagine walking to school or work on dusty roads, and kids playing with no shoes on? That’s under development. We must send them our old clothes full of bed bugs.

It’s difficult for us to appreciate the earth when everything else is against it. Proverbs don’t like it. She treats me like ‘dirt’. There’s hope though. Our opinion doesn’t matter. Kids in countries stolen by the Queen and the whole of Europe, are initiated into creativity and teamwork by climbing trees.

Kids in occupied territories like Canada, U.S. and Australia, love dirt. They can’t wait for the summer to make mud houses and sand castles. They know the earth's secret, which we lost when we cut down trees to build condos.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.