Dear Earth,

In our insatiable hunger, we butchered you. In our characteristic recklessness, we disfigured you. In our egocentric greed, we exploited you dry to the bone. In our capitalistic sentiments, we justified it all. In our game of hope, we relentlessly went on, boosting our confidence with your silence.

We cared not for all that you had to provide us. We cared not for the beauty you presented us. We cared not for the home you made us. We cared not for the life-supporting systems you supplied us. We cared not for the peace and harmony you gifted us. We cared not for the existence you granted us. All we cared for, was the money we could make out of you.

In doing so, we pushed your frustration beyond the limits of patience. But that was not what convinced us to stop.

No, we did not run from your wrath. We are too arrogant of a species for that. We calmly extracted all you had to give, and moved on when we were done with you. Done wrenching, done sucking, done bleeding.

And we will exploit everything around us for our own selfish needs. Again.

We will not learn from our mistakes, because it was not a mistake from our perspective. We will do to your sisters what we did to you, we will do to your other children what we did to you. My kind does not feel empathy for any other.

Some of us will raise hue and cry, put forward arguments, devote entire lives to the cause. But it will probably do no good. I will try my best against such monstrosities, I promise you. I do not want to witness the vicious destruction of another world, another future. I have hope, immense hope, even though I do not have any expectations.

Perhaps one day we’ll look back, nostalgic for the caress of a breeze, nostalgic for the sight of some green, nostalgic for the soothe of rain, nostalgic for the peace of the humbling mountains, nostalgic for the joy of the great blue skies and seas, with regret in our eyes, regret that will be strong enough to shake us, awaken us, and teach us.

Perhaps, that regret will save others from the fate we unleashed upon you. But for what has been done, I apologise. And I thank you for bearing with us.

In atonement,
One beholden.