Earth - From "The Truth That Lies Within" by Khaled H. Nabih

One day my wife and I were driving along our way to her parents’ house to pay them a visit, when suddenly we had a flat tire. The day was early for such an unpleasant reality, but off course we had to stop. The road was empty, and not many people were walking around, as it was early on a weekend. I pulled over to the side of the road and got out all the equipment and the spare tire. As I was busy working on the tire, my wife
stood there beside me for support, not to mention endless instructions!
Oddly enough, she suddenly screamed and ran off to lock herself inside the car. I was left out there two inches away from an old, filthy, six-foot-tall, crazy man. He was covered in mud and carried an old, shredded tire in one hand and had an old, mucky duffel bag in the other. He stared at me for a good couple of minutes that seemed to last forever! I was terrified and did not know what to expect from this guy. He looked crazy enough to run off a whole football team.

I stood there and tried to avoid eye contact, and of course my wife had locked me out, so I didn’t have much choice!

Then suddenly the crazy man shouted, “Take an
earth back ride!”

He then left me in one peace, though terrified. Thank God I am still alive!

Despite the fact that my wife had locked me out to deal with this on my own, we shared a laugh! We then named him “The Earth Man”; he looked all natural to me!

This incident, that day, got me thinking. How can a crazy, messed-up person like “The Earth Man” have such humor? What was he thinking? On second thought, it’s very true: we are on an earth back ride, but we forgot this fact, and we take it for granted.

Earth, the true mother of all, has no hand with which to express herself, nor can she speak. She absorbs the mistreatment, abuse, and harassment we impose on her.

The true question is; how long will she survive?
The challenge is to live Earth’s life for a minute!
Maybe we can ask “the earth man” about his
experience?

“The earth is what we all have in common.”—Wendell
Barry

Earth extends its coordinates for all humankind to occupy her soil and ground; she provides us with all we need—from the oxygen we inhale to the gravity that defines our existence. On the other hand, we tend to abuse all, from animals to trees, from rivers to seas, and from one land to another; we destroy our own mother. When are we going to stop and think? Do we need that wake-up call? When the earth shakes, it cracks our souls; when her volcano erupts, it burns our hearts; and when her storm attacks, it wipes our
land of its parameters! From global pandemics to the so-called “natural disasters”—are we ever
going to learn?
Love can turn to hate, and trust has defined limitations. But when Earth loses her patience, God help every living soul on her back—the guilty and the innocent!

In all known religious beliefs, Earth has always garnered respect; why can’t we respect her? We all live on one planet surrounded by even larger formations and planets. If these stars, planets, or even the moon were living creatures, they might be sitting back watching Earth and the mad people running around on its back wasting their time destroying their own home. It would be difficult for them to understand the human goals
set for their own land, as they would not know what greed means or its side effects!

Do we still have time to pay back Earth what she truly deserves, or is it too late?
Let there be green, and let’s stop that destructive greed machine.
Respect Earth so she can respect our existence.