For long, we have slumbered, powered by, and hidden behind, draperies of ignorance to find bliss in not knowing, in not caring. 

For years, the Earth has called out to her children, and they have pulled blankets of warm coal over their ears as they have pretended to sleep.

 

For ages, Nature has been benevolent to our follies and we have misinterpreted its forgiveness for weakness, its hesitance to strike back as its inability to.

For millennia, this planet has bundled under the burden of human greed; emanating from some, affecting all.

 

For decades, the world took it all in and gave nothing back; for centuries, our callousness was met with quiet. Now, the Earth rages in return, and blameless masses bear its brunt.

 

This year we see, what generations have wilfully not seen, we hear what has deliberately been unheard. This year, we open our senses to Earth’s call, we sense her anger, and we make amends.

 

This year, we choose to face the disasters we brought, the calamities we wrought; this year we confront catastrophes of our making.

This is the year we choose to arise. This is the year we choose to awaken.