Afra Mahjabeen Sheen
In ancient times, a newborn would open its eyes and cry amidst sunlight and inhaling pure air. It would smile seeing the animals and the moon. I often think how lucky those babies were! They grew under the blue sky, played hearing the sound of stream and adorned their life with fragrance of soil. Living close to nature they had the best interactions. But what about us? I can hardly see moon through buildings , no fresh air or even fresh water in river!
May be this is why ancient people were simple and innocent, while exploiting nature modern civilization just made our life complicated. Since we don’t have direct connection with nature, how will the people of our generation learn from nature let alone use it in their life?
Actually, direct connection with nature obsolete if we really want to learn. Some observation is more than enough. Nature is our mother which takes care of us like her own child; it is our inspiration and our first school. Wherever you are, in Bangladesh or in USA, the vast nature with its teaching materials is around you like shadow.
A burning example of my life is, nature teaches me to become grateful. The little plant in my home, I take care of it with water and fertilizer. In return, it gave me much happiness with flower and fruits. But alas! This gratefulness of nature often remain unnoticed by human being and without learning from it, some human keep hurting nature by polluting environment and cutting trees. Is that a really way to behave with our mother? I hope not.
There is an obvious affection between parents and child, which is surprisingly taught by nature. Animals taught human to make family, society and yes, like animals, our parents also watch over us, after a day’s hard work for food, they feeds staying unfed. This apparent harmony is nothing but a valuable teaching of nature.
Everyday the sun rises in the east and sets in the west routinely, so does the moon, birds and countless elements of nature. Nature inspires us to be abide by schedule. To be good-friend, to keep patience, and most importantly to love are obligatory philosophies of nature as well.
I learned from my sister that 2007, cyclone ‘Sidr’, went over Bangladesh. Most of which was defended by our mangrove forest ‘Sundarbans’ as a result many lives were saved. This taught us to love others and come forward in someone’s time of need without any personal interest. During storm, trees fought the wind to defend themselves from the menace. Like this we must learn to be strong in danger.
Sometimes the sky rumbles with flashes of light , rain sweeps the earth. After a while everything becomes quiet. We also loose temper, which is typical, but we need to make our frenzy brief. Again, summer comes with heat wave and warmth making life miserable but that same summer blesses us with juicy fruits like mangoes, berries etc. This teaches that relief hides in trouble.
Surprisingly, our society maintains a food chain just as the eco system. The rich torment the poor just as large animals (e.g. tiger, lion) prey on smaller animals (e.g. deer, rabbit). However we can learn togetherness from nature too. Bees are social creatures that live in harmony supporting each other. We can appreciate the benefits of social life from them.
In these ways, we can seek the positive lessons from nature to adorn life like a blooming rose. But how to implement the lessons? I believe opening the eyes of mind instead of the literal eyes will help feeling other’s pain. Sit quiet rather than foolishly destroying our senses and think how we can assist the helpless and protect the society while living an active life as a global citizen.
If one person starts changing, one child plants a tree, tomorrow many will follow that. Day after tomorrow, the world will start changing. With these simple inspiration from nature, we helped a street child to study which will help him to work for the world. This implementation of my learning from nature is the ultimate satisfaction.
