We bring beauty to the environment. Humans are so mad about anything beautiful. They are happy when they see that the environment is very green.
Without us, the trees, there can be nothing beautiful. We colour the environment. Some of us are white. Some of us are blue. Some of us are black, among all the other colours. Humans are so excited when the environment is beautiful. They even appreciate the Creator for creating us. If humans are happy because we make their environment beautiful, why do they mercilessly cut us down without replanting us?
We don’t only bring beauty to human’s environment. We are home to many wild animals and other creatures that don’t live at home. Ask the birds, they will tell you they build their nests on us. Ask the gazelles, they will tell you they hide themselves in us from their predators, just in us. Ask every other animal; the answer you will get is that they won’t live without us. We provide the best home for them. Animals are under humans’ responsibility according to the creation story. It is humans to build them houses. Now, it is us building them houses. Can’t humans thank us instead? Can they be planning to destroy us? Where is their wisdom? They cry when one of them dies. Don’t they know we cry too?
Humans eat our fruits. They are happy enjoying our fruits, but they ignorantly cut and burn us. Eating our fruits, they become very healthy. Their doctors tell them that fruits are very important for good health. They even know that fruits are the essential things for good health. Go to the market. Fruits are expensive. That is because they are so important. Whatever is expensive has the greatest value. They cannot compare us to meat. Eat too much meat and you die young. Eat too many fruits and you will live longer. We still ask our big question. Why are we destroyed when we are so important to human life?
Let the sun’s heat become so tough on humans. Humans understand how important our shade is. They like our shades so much. Their old men sit under us. Their young children play under us. Their young youth converse under us. They don’t like some of us who don’t give good shade. If they are planting us, they always choose those who have good shades among us. If they like our shades, why should they really cut us down? We doubt whether humans are wise. Maybe the creator knows.
All the medicine, humans use is manufactured from our leaves. Before humans had factories, they used to use our leaves as medicine. Go to any human doctor, he/she will tell you that there would be no medicine without our leaves. By nature, we are medicinal. We kill every disease. We fight every sickness. Humans fear diseases and sicknesses. Imagine without us fighting the diseases and sicknesses, how would they survive? We are the medicine whether manufactured or not. Every human knows it so well. Then, why do they destroy us?
We are perfect in gaseous exchange! We release oxygen to humans as they release carbon dioxide to us. See this great cooperation. Without us, where would they get the oxygen they take in? It is us purifying the air they breathe in. They pollute the air. We purify it for them. We make sure they breathe in clean air. Humans put many poisonous gases in the air. They burn fuels whose smoke is released into the air. Humans can die in just a minute without us purifying the air for them. Why are they so ignorant to acknowledge it that they just destroy us?
Go to the villages. Humans build their houses using us. We give them timbers. We roof their houses. We give them, woods. They make their doors using us. We give them strong pillars. Without us their houses can fall without any waste of time. They know there are strong winds and storms. It is us that make their houses stand. We agree for them to cut us to build their houses. We don’t have any problem with it. Our big problem with them is because they cut us without replanting us. Why do they keep marrying, even some of them marrying more than one wife? Is it not because they need to increase and replace those who died? If they want to increase, don’t they also know that we should increase?
All the humans know that we provide them with charcoal and firewood for cooking. They can’t cook without us. They use our charcoal for cooking as well as for business. Some of them are rich just from the sales of charcoal. They don’t also collect the firewood for cooking alone, they also sell them. Charcoal also is medicinal. It can kill warms in the stomach. Ask some women. They also like chewing charcoal. If humans want to continue using our charcoal and firewood, they must continue to plant us.
Humans use some of us like teak trees for business. Teak trees are very essential for trade. Teak trees are exported and bring income to the nation. We give them beds. They like it when they sleep on a wooden bed. They use our woods to make chairs. They also use our woods to fence their compounds. Some of them are selling us in the market, but they don’t think of replanting us for the next generation. They want to finish us and leave nothing for the next generation. Humans are not very wise.
What about our sticks! Humans use our sticks for many purposes. They use our sticks to beat some wild animals. Some name such a stick as luoth (Shilluk), ket (Nuer), thiel (Dinka), among others. They use the same stick for protecting themselves from each other. Humans fight like hell. They use our sticks to fight each other. They call it duay in Nuer and tong thiel in Dinka when they fight using the sticks. I believe other tribes can name it too. Some of them are weak to stand. They use the sticks to support each other to stand. They also use our sticks (chuil) to brush their teeth. Some of them cannot smile without brushing their teeth with our sticks. Do they deserve to mistreat us?
Don’t forget oil! We give oil to humans. Some of us can give tasteful oil. Talk about the olive oil. Every human likes it. They use our oil for cooking their sauce. They use our oil to smoothen their bodies. Some of them cannot be admired without first smearing our oil on their skins. Our oil also acts as medicine. When applied on a wound, the wound will get healed without further delay. If they want to continue using our oil, why don’t they continue to plant more trees?
We are food to birds, animals and other living creatures. Birds get their food from us. Animals get their food from us. Animals and birds would have perished without us. Humans eat these animals and birds. If they don’t eat us, which meat will they eat? It is our leaves and fruits that make every other creature live. We are the source of life for all other creatures. Even these humans without us, they can’t continue to live. Every other creature must thank us. They must appreciate our existence.
Humans, we are not at all happy for you. You cut us down without replanting us. You burn us every day. You allow flood to destroy us. We die each day. Why don’t you preserve us? Some of you pretend to be environmentalists. You just watch the environment being destroyed. Are you sure you are preserving the environment? We are deforested. Every eye has witnessed how we are in danger. What we hate most is being burned. When you set us on fire, you don’t only burn us, you burn many creatures homing in us. You burn many of those creatures’ young ones.
Humans, we have agreed to provide you with all that you need. Please, stop burning us. Plant more of us. Bring peace where we live. We are happy living with animals. If you kill animals, we don’t also become happy. Animals are migrating each day just because you are so violent. You kill them. You also scare them away with your big weapons. You poison where we grow with poisonous chemicals. You even use chemical weapons which are destructive to animals’ lives and our lives as well. Please, change your life today. Repent from all the bad things you had done to us and other creatures. Be kind to the earth.