Dreams

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It was a Wednesday when Maria finally had the chance to take us together with our daughter Nikki for a picnic in a beautiful park. The hills ran like waves blanketed with green bermuda grass, and the tall pine trees were dancing along the wind. The sight before our very eyes was a grandeur, like a gorgeous renaissance painting of blue sea, scattered small islands and fishing boats. The sea waves were like giant ripples slowly reaching the shore as if they were arcs and circles drawn from the horizon.

The sun was bright yellow and the sky was in its most perfect timing for a day in the park. Maria placed her head on my shoulder while enjoying the cool morning breeze that brushed against our faces. Nikki busied herself trying to capture with her tender hands one of those colorful butterflies that were feasting on a garden of roses nearby. We let ourselves a sigh of laughter as Nikki was unable to get one after several attempts. She foiled back to us weeping like a child would do and told us about the persistent butterflies.

We ate under a shade, the most delicious sandwich made from a combination of fresh lettuce and tomato coupled with tuna and a delicious spread. An ice cold orange juice, sweet bananas and a couple of red apples completed the set for a morning snack.

It was an ideal day of fun and enjoyment. The beauty nature could offer was beyond imagination. I felt so happy that I wished the time would slow down and the day would never find its end. I napped as Maria used her gentle fingers to comb my hair as if she was luring my senses to rest and sleep.

Suddenly, I woke up with a hissing sound of a dripping faucet coming from the bathroom of my apartment. I realized that a fascinating dream has just occurred to me. A dream from what the future might behold.

I held my cell phone and felt surprised that it was almost 7 in the morning. Instead of simply dialing my boss’ number, I used its 3G video call and mentioned that I may be late for office. I took a shower and immediately put on a pair of gray slacks and pin stripe long sleeves. I hurried past to the garage and soon I was inside a Chevy and quickly startled its engine. The car of course is equipped with GPS that helped me find the quickest route and avoided traffic through a computer in the dashboard. Once on the road, I browsed thousands of MP3s and found John Mayer’s Room for Squares album. I hit the play button using the wireless remote controller, and the car interior was instantly saved from boredom. As I turned towards the gates of my office building, I waited a couple of seconds for the biometrics security device to scan my vehicle registry before they were automatically opened. I got out of the car and walked a few more steps before reaching the office doors. Upon entering the building, I slid my right thumb across a thin scanner for identification. Finally with ease and comfort, I was inside the office and geared up for another day at work.

Time has been a concrete witness to man’s endless quest to develop and improve ways of living. Technology paved the road to modernization. From the simplest form of invention like the incandescent bulb, it provided light during man’s dark ages. Until the era of machines, computers play a major role in our lives.

We see them everyday, in restaurants, in school, in the work place, in the church, and almost everywhere. Technology has risen up to modernize, lest, industrialize almost everything that contribute to human’s endless search for comfortable lifestyle.

However, this challenge has been adversely affecting our nature. It consistently posed harm to our environment, which greatly disturbed Mother Nature and consequently brought disasters.

We remind ourselves of one of the worst oil spill ever to hit our country when a ship sank into the sea of Guimaras island in the Visayas. The ship went down into the sea bed together with a tanker containing millions of liters of bunker fuel. The oil spill instantly devastated marine life, mangroves, tourism and livelihood of the people living there.

When we go out of our houses for a stroll in the malls or in the city, we are dealt with a polluted air coming from all sorts of directions. Smoke belching vehicles, hazardous fumes from non-compliant factories to environmental regulations, millions of cigarette smokers, they all add up to the desecration of air in which we breathe in.

Flood waters are a persistent reminder of how the trees are ravaged. Landslides which brought perils to innocent lives simply show that if these trees are continuously spoiled without conservation, it will surely lead to destruction.

Years from now, I can’t imagine how my children, and their children too, would live if the air they’ll breathe in is nothing but a mixture of fatal gases. Every human being would be required to wear a gas mask to sustain a normal respiration.

I can’t describe how their children would eat if all of the trees are ruined, or if farms are converted into golf courses and real estate. There would be a great cry of hunger.

I find it hard to picture in my mind that they would not be able to see dolphins, whales, coral reefs, and the magnificence marine environment could offer if the waters are terribly destroyed for the sake of industrialization. They would only perceive these ideas through books and documents written from the past.

That is why it is everybody’s responsibility to take part in safeguarding the environment. We bear the obligation of protecting Mother Nature to ensure mankind could continue life in the forthcoming generation. Whatever actions equate a reaction, and it is our duty to make sure that the environment will be fit enough to provide the needs of the future.

Dreams are made sometimes to shed light during darkness, draw inspirations to those who need one and most importantly, move to make actions. I am hopeful I will wake up one day to witness my dream turn into life.