A Message to a Friend Living at the Other End of The Universe
By Funto Odukanmi
Dear Friend,
Hello.
I hope this message gets to the place where you are. When you
get this, please come and visit.
Look for me around the way that flows bright with young stars.
We call it the Milky Way Galaxy and I live on Earth, the third
planet from a star we call our Sun.
Sometimes we call Earth the Blue Marble. My planet is this
color because its surface is 71% water. Our surface water we
call our oceans. Our oceans give life and sustain life. All life here
needs water to stay alive.
Here, everything is alive and everything is connected along this
line we call Evolution. I belong to a group of organisms that
believes it is the end of that line. We call ourselves Humans.
You would find our planet the fastest if you look for the signs of
our intelligence.
Intelligence means the ability to acquire and apply knowledge
and skills. We have learnt how to take and use everything the
Earth has to offer to make our lives longer and easier. We have
built great cities of light you can see from space. We invent
great and small machines to do the work to take care of billions
of us. We record everything we do on tons of paper we make
from the trees that grow on the Earth. We invented a great
substance called plastic that is practically indestructible and we
use it in almost everything. Intelligence is a wonderful thing to
have and you must be intelligent too if you are reading this
message.
The reason we would like you to visit us is to be certain that we
are not alone. Is your world beautiful like ours- with blue skies
that change in color at sunrise and sunset? Do you have flora
that grow out of a ground full of precious minerals and gems?
Do you have fauna of the air, land and water? Is your world full
of people, same but different? What does your world sound
like? What does your world smell like? My world is full of
sounds and full of smells. From space our sounds would be
noise to you I imagine. From outer space we would stink I am
sure.
We would stink because we have cut down all the trees that
would have breathed new air into our world. We would stink
because of all the waste we pour into the oceans and onto the
land. Does your world stink too?
Have you found the way to clean up the waste and by products
of living? Have you found the way to take care of your
population without depleting all your resources? Have you
found a way for all your peoples to thrive and let your planet
thrive with you? I hope your answers are yes. We need to learn
from you.
In my world, children like me go to school to learn about solving
all our problems. We learn things like Recycling, Reusing and
Reproducing. We learn so much but I do not know if we have
learned enough in time to make a difference.
This is why I am sending this message. I hope you see it soon.
When you see it, please come and find me. I live in the central
landmass on my planet called Africa, in a country in that
continent’s armpit called Nigeria. Keep coming west and find
me in the newest house on my street. We moved here only
three months ago and I know how fearful I was to leave my
friends to come to this place. I recall the hopes and dreams of
my own room and more space. When you come, you will tell
me about your world and together we will tell the leaders of my
world what they ought to do to save all of us. I hope they would
listen. If they do, I would stay and work with them to save our
home.
If they wouldn’t, could you please take us back with you, my
family and I? And could I bring along some water in a globe?
Just in case. It’s the one thing I would bring with me to remind
me of my planet and after all, it is Life. I really want to take that
with me if we have to go.