I am old. I have been here from the Dawn of Mankind. I have seen mountains rising, lakes and rivers disappearing, forests turning old and dark.
I am thousands and thousands of years old. I do not remember how I got to be, only that at one moment, aeons ago, I simply was. For many years, I have just been watching, observing the world changing around me, not aware of what it is I was brought here to do. And, after all this time, I still don’t know. But I have lived all along, being a part of this world; being a part of this world’s changes. I walked the entire planet hundreds of times; feeling its pulse under my feet; inhaling its breath. I have set foot in the hidden parts of the globe, places unvisited by people even in their modern days.
I climbed every hilltop and every mountain peak. I swam in every ocean and every sea; touched every shore, brushed every tree. I was there, every time a volcano erupted; seen every storm and danced with every tornado.
And I am still here.
I remember clearly how excited I was when the humans started evolving, learning new tricks and passing their newly accumulated knowledge to their children. I lived among the animals of this planet for so long and yet, I could not foresee the potential of this specific species. From the shadows I have watched them create an easier, better life’s for themselves and their future generations. I enjoyed their success, I cried at their wars. For someone not human, I felt to be as much a part of them as I possibly could. They flourished. They travelled, expanding beyond their own limitations and expectations. The communities turned into tribes, then into villages, cities and states. They were many, and they divided themselves based on criteria I could not see or understand. Still, they progressed. For most of them, lives become easy and comfortable, though pointless. They drove around in machines, they flew higher than birds; they even left the gravitational embrace of this wonderful planet.
And then I watched them destroy it all in a blink.
It all happened so quickly. I have lived among them for a thousand years, and yet, I did not see it happening until it was too late. I watched them grow distant, from themselves and from the Nature they were a part of. For some reason, they wanted to escape their own roots, ignore the unity of mind and matter that works so flawlessly with everything else on this planet. They wanted more of everything by giving less and less. They dug their mines, extracting Earth’s flesh and ley their pipes, ever thirsty for her blood. And they never stopped, up till the very end.
They took everything and gave nothing in return.
I was there when the last generation of people that could enjoy the beauty of this planet forgot to teach their own children how to do it. It was but a blink of an eye for me, but I felt it and it hurt more than anything I have ever felt before. I was there when Nature took over, hurt and wounded as she was, trying to regain some control. People still fought her, even though many more would survive if they just realized what they have done.
I was there when balance shifted. I felt it in my core, for I was the part of this world as much it was the part of me. I could imagine Nature’s tears as she did what she had to do. No matter what, the planet will survive. Human beings, slaves of their own comfort and technology, were nothing but collateral victims of a war they themselves created and had no chance of winning anyway.
I saw the fires, I felt the winds, and I endured the droughts and faced the ice at the end of it all, as I did many times before. Some of them survived, but most were simply wiped out. Eventually, in time… they were all gone.
I miss them, if that word applies to something inhuman as me. I thought they can do so much more good.
But I was wrong.
And I am still here.