...Imagine...
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| I thought this GIF was very fitting... |
Imagine if you took a few minutes out of your busy day to read this...
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Imagine if there was only one home you could live in. It's the largest home there is, and it has plenty of space for you and everyone else you shared it with.
Imagine if there was a homeowner; someone who made sure that home kept running and that everyone was alive and well. Imagine that the homeowner was very kind and generous, as they gave you everything you ever needed and wanted, and let you do and use whatever you wanted.
Imagine if suddenly, you find out that they're coming down with a fever. You know that without them, you would die. That scares you, so you pretend that they're okay and that their fever isn't real. So you, and most others, continue to live your lives the same way you always have. You don't put in the effort to change anything, instead wasting valuable resources and living your life in "comfort." If you don't think about it, it won't get worse. Right? You ignore the fact that the homeowner's fever is slowly getting worse. But they still give you everything you ask for, even though the quality is not the same as it once was.
Imagine if some of the people sharing your home decide to start taking action. They find out what happened to cause the homeowner to become sick. They come up with plans and solutions to start helping the homeowner recover and stop the fever from rising. For a while, things are working, and they seem to get better. But it's not enough.
So they try to get everyone else, including you, to help. But you don't want to change your current way of life. Perhaps, you think the problem is so overwhelming that no matter what you do, it's pointless. Perhaps you aren't able to make any significant changes. Perhaps you are afraid of changing your ways, of stepping outside your comfort zone. Or perhaps, you are waiting for someone else to come or something to happen that will automatically fix your world. So, you continue to go on living as you do.
As time goes on, things in your home are getting worse. Some different people start creating other problems in your home to distract everyone, making them seem bigger and more important than they should be. They move the spotlight and start pointing it at each other, away from the homeowner, whose fever is still rising...
Now things in your home are becoming chaotic. The plumbing starts acting up, and you're experiencing more flooding than there should be. The air conditioning and heating start malfunctioning, creating all sorts of weird temperature and weather fluctuations in your home. The stuff you and everyone else in your home have been using starts filling up your world. Your resources are running out. The wild things that make your home special start disappearing faster than you can blink. Your surroundings no longer feel clean, and some areas of your home are polluted so badly that you can no longer see the mountains right outside the window. You feel as if you can no longer breathe.
The people living with you in your home start to grow sicker, mentally and physically. They fight and argue constantly; criticizing and comparing each other. They stop listening and working together. They stop talking to each other and instead, talk at each other. You realize that somehow, even you are affected.
But what if finally, you, and everyone else, decided to face the truth?
You realize that everything comes down to your homeowner, who is still suffering from the fever. The homeowner who you and all your roommates depend on for survival. The homeowner who always gave you everything you ever needed and asked for, and more. The one who never asked for anything, anything, in return. The one who gave you your only home; your only life.
Now imagine... what if this story is real?
Don't you think it's time for you to give back to your home? To stop running or hiding from the problem, and try to do something about global warming and climate change?
Imagine that you chose to care. Imagine that you decided to help and join the people already fighting to save your home and give back. Imagine that you influenced others to come together and help make your home a better place.
Imagine if we all cared enough to put our differences aside for a while.
Imagine a world where we humans are willing to come together to achieve the same goal.
Imagine if we stopped waiting and saying, and started doing.
Imagine what could happen if the majority of people came together to try.
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What if... you decided to stand up? Imagine... if you made a change...
"Preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
~Carl Sagan