Gusto

Like any other normal day, I should've woken up, surfed my phone for an hour while I'm still in my bed, tumbled into the bathroom and proceeded with my life.

But that's not what happened today...

I woke up, but I felt like....air.

And then I did the one thing that I regret doing. 

Looking down.

Because what I saw that day, was not my stomach and the rest of my body....

I was air. I was literally air.

"Pahaha!" I heard laughter all around me.

I looked around and searched for the source of the voice.

It just seemed to originate from everywhere.

"Looks like you're gonna be with me today, huh. You silly and ridiculous humans. You all use and pollute the air with no sense of how it affects me."

I then realized that it was the air around me talking.

"Live my life one day, and then you'll realize how hard it is to be wind. I help all humans. I provide electricity by making your windmills run, I make you feel cool on that hot day when you're dying of thirst, I power your yachts and sailing ships so that you can travel and live your life.

Oh! And I also play an important role in your seasonal changes. So the next time you're waiting for summer to lick ice creams and frolic around, it is me you should be thanking."

I was so perplexed. 

Was I wind? 

Was this a punishment that I was facing? What is going on?

The wind continued, "Today, you're gonna be wind. You're going to go around and help all humans, do what I do every day, and face my life.

You are going to experience all the challenges that I face on a daily basis, and at the end of the day, you're going to tell me if you want to be me again."

I was shocked. 

But I accepted the challenge and flew out of my window.

********

"Let's have some fun," I thought to myself.

A well-dressed girl walked on the road, too busy with her schedule to look around.

She wore a white, embroidered hat.

How sad it would be if that hat just flew from her head and got stuck on that tall tree nearby...

With this wicked and mischievous thought in my mind, I blew a gust of air with enough force to take off the hat on her head.

 Sure enough, the girl shrieked as the hat flew from her head to the top of the massive tree nearby.

Ah! How fun it is to be the wind!

********

Next, I came across a man designing comics in his room.

He sat by the table facing the open window, enjoying the cool, light breeze outside.

Time to make all your papers fly!

I blew a gust of wind towards the open window, thus making all of his papers fly. 

Ah-aha! The wind has such a merry life!

I went throughout the city, causing havoc here and there.

I went about blowing ladies' hair, dirtying people's dresses with the sand on the ground, tearing posters, weakening buildings and hurting people's eyes by putting sand in them.

It was so fun!

Everything was going great until I came across a chimney emitting sulfurous smoke.

Hack! Hack! Hack! 

I coughed and wheezed due to the polluted around me.

I also came across a boy burning rubber tires.

The contaminated air was extremely detrimental for me and for the Earth.

I saw various human activities that deeply affected me.

Smoke emitted by vehicles, combustion of fossil fuels, pollution from air conditioners, dust and dirt, household pollution and pollution from natural events.

No, this can't be how we humans treat the wind that helps us so much in our daily life....

I heard the same voice I heard at the beginning of the day, "This is how you humans treat the wind that is so beneficial to you."

"You are polluting me and turning the Mother Nature prematurely gray! It even affects you, humans, as the health effects of air pollution imperil human lives."

Now that I thought about it, what is the point of great technological achievements like the automobile, the jet-plane, the power plant industry if all of them lead to pollution and not solutions? 

"Take action. Air pollution can only be prevented, not cured. Together, you humans can do anything.

Oh! And you will be back human as soon as you wake up."

Saying this, the wind disappeared.

********

"Ouch!" I groaned as Ms. Jennifer's chalk hit my forehead.

"Looks like someone didn't get enough sleep last night. What were you doing? Playing with the wind?"

Ms. Jennifer had no idea how true that sentence was.

 

I was motivated to prevent air pollution. 

Campaigns, "No Smoking" drives and using public transport instead of private were good ideas for starters.

Be a part of the solution, not the pollution.