Mother's selfishness

She wept. Her bosom quivered, a quake was born with her sobs. She purged her disappointment in a Tsunami of tears. She was wretchedly distraught. Her errant progeny refused to heed her. They refused to listen. All her entreaties to them, her warnings, the omens that she sent their way; went unheeded. So, today, she retched out her ire. She heaved her displeasure in tidal waves of discontent.

She was a mother, she loved her children. They were of her and a part of her still. But, today she had decided to punish & discipline. The inclement times called for it. The avaricious attitude of her children, their petty squabbling over pieces of her, their desecration of her body, had all led to this decision. Today, she was selfishly doling out that which they had been giving her. The Earth had decided to be selfish for a day.

Oh! She had tried, she really had. She had beseeched them, pleaded with them to rein in their wayward selfishness, but they had not listened.

Her tremors were meant as a warning to mankind. But, they went unheeded. Her tears had raised the levels of the oceans but that too went unnoticed.

So she thought, “I’ll have to teach them a lesson. I’ll have to take this up one notch. They will not learn unless they suffer the same as I.”

Angrily she had summoned the other elements. She had called upon fire, water, wood and air. They had bidden as directed and unleashed her wrath on the world. Wood had caught Fire, giving it fuel. Together they had raged a path from the forests to the cities, shrieking their way towards homes. The air had risen up a literal maelstrom, pushing the surging fire into the path of her children. It blew strong and hard, lashing at all that humanity had created. It stung them with unabated fury. It caught the gentle waves in its hold and lifted them up into tidal proportions. The waves propelled by its fury, beat upon the shores in a deluge.

Soon all her children were running helter-skelter seeking refuge. Oh! They were heeding her now, now that their survival was in question. They prayed to the Gods and beseeched her.

Her selfishness at their attitude knifed her own heart. It cleaved a wedge deep & painful. But she knew that this needed to be done. A lesson had to be taught. So she hardened her heart and let her wounds ooze blood. It seeped out from crevices as red hot lava and flowed unbidden down volcanic visages. She sobbed as each drop sizzled and seared something, destroying it. But, she did not stop the flow. She let her children feel her angst.

The dance of destruction went on till she was spent.

Then they came crawling to her, begging the God’s to stop her selfishness at punishing them.

“Oh Lord. Please stop this desecration. Mother Earth, please help. Have pity on us, your children,” they cried from various corners of the beautiful world that she had created for them; crafted for them out of a wanton piece of the universe.

She smiled then and said to them, “Touché, my children.”