Wednesday 5 August 2026
On the way home from school, we cross a long train track, which has clear land on either side where grass and weeds grow, and some people place little stalls around there as well.
One or two weeks ago though, as we passed by, I found the whole of one side to be flattened down and coated in black. The vegetation had overgrown and was burnt down for convenience, I assumed. It was a sad sight to see.
Today, on the way home from school as I looked out the window, I was surprised to see little weeds sticking out of the blackened earth. And this inexplicable happiness just engulfed my heart. I don't understand why this little thing brought me such happiness but I was genuinely so excited to see that the plants were regrowing.
And as that warm emotion bubbled in my chest, I thought, "how resilient is nature that despite this field having been burnt down, these weeds still prop up again?" It reminded me of the analogy of a phoenix rising from its own ashes (I hope analogy is the right word lol).
It brought me an odd sort of hope... A reminder that despite anything humanity does, nature will make itself known, nature will fight back. In today's age, humans, in my opinion, sit on a blurred line between what's natural and what is not. We are like an infestation, or an infection. We take everything for our own gain, break down other ecosystems to build our own. Even our ideologies and even thinking is no longer "natural" in a sense. Many people use social media influencers and AI to define their personalities and thinking process. We're losing the connection to nature, and yet, going back to nature is what brings us better states of mind, lowers our stress and anxiety levels and generally makes us feel more at peace with ourselves. So much is going downhill and I don't know how I could ever put it all into words. I can't deny being a part of the problem... I also use AI when I'm stuck beyond help, I use social media for inspiration as a writer, especially for character and world building, I hardly go out and touch grass... And it's frustrating that it's hard to reconnect with nature in today's day and age. I can't preach of course but these are really just observations I've made.
I feel like I went a bit off point.... Also these first world countries throwing their bombs everywhere... It's genuinely already affecting different parts of the world, especially second and third world countries. There's heavy rainfall in some areas when it shouldn't even be that season yet, there are droughts in others where there should be rainfall. These people need to be stopped.
When I was younger, I used to imagine stories where after all the wars these big boss countries get themselves into, when almost all is destroyed, nature will show up to reclaim what was theirs. Nature will peek out of the cracks and grow and flourish even among the destruction.
And I think nature symbolises that in a way--resilience.