Another year’s gone by and I couldn’t help but realize how many years it’s been…how much older I grown and just how long this battle for the survival of green earth has been fought.
Time flies by so quickly and so subtly, we hardly ever notice just how much has passed us by until nostalgia pays us a visit…It seems to me like she pays a visit each time something draws to an end….
Nostalgia, the longing for the past that brings tears to the eyes and songs…one among her many minions that render us powerless to fight against that reminisce of a time long forgotten.
They say enlightenment comes when you can see the truth and understand it. And would you believe it if I told you that it was a song that touched my heart and gave me that desire to pick up the sword for Mother Nature?
I was just a wee child back then yet this song was all it took to make me realize what we stood to lose if we didn’t care – if I didn’t care.
Till today it remains one of my favourite songs simply because it has soul and I’m sure we can all agree that anything with a soul never dies…
The song was sung by a Malaysian artist named Zainal Abidin back around 1990. It’s in Malay with Kelantanese dialect and I guess you could say it’s a song that is something along the lines of Michael Jackson’s Heal the World, but Zainal Abidin’s healing the world was from a global warming perspective.
I don’t think I can attach any videos on the post so here’s a link to it. It’s a beautiful song that is soft and slow that paces to the beat of a traditional Malaysian drums and if you don’t understand the lyrics that’s just fine but that’s the thing about music, it transcends language barriers and builds new bridges so you will enjoy it anyways.
But as the whole point is to attempt to expose you to the revelation I got from listening to it, I’ll translate it (as best and as accurate I can) into English.
HIJAU (Green)
Bumi yang tiada rimba (The world without forests)
Seumpama hamba (is like a slave)
Dia dicemar manusia (she is polluted by humans)
Yang jahil ketawa (who only laugh in ignorance)
Bumi yang tiada udara (The world without air)
Bagai tiada nyawa (is akin to being lifeless)
Pasti hilang suatu hari (One day it is for certain she will vanish)
Tanpa disedari (without us realising it)
Bumi tanpa lautan (The world without the oceans)
Akan kehausan (will die of thirst)
Pasti lambat laun hilang (Eventually yet certainly she will vanish)
Duniaku yang malang (my ill-fated/unfortunate world)
Dewasa ini kita saling merayakan (Of late we seem to be constantly celebrating)
Kejayaan yang akhirnya membinasakan (Successes that in time will only bring about destruction)
Apalah gunanya kematangan fikiran (What is the use of maturity of the mind)
Bila di jiwa kita masih lagi muda (when deep down inside our souls remain infantile)
Dan mentah (and ignorant)
Ku lihat hijau (I see immaturity)
Bumiku yang kian pudar (My beloved earth that is for certain fading)
Siapa yang melihat (Who noticesyou?)
Di kala kita tersedar (Come the time we do realise)
Mungkinkah terlewat (will it be too late)
Korupsi,opresi,obsesi diri (Corruption, oppression, self obsession)
Polusi,depressi,di bumi,kini (Pollution, the current depression on earth)
Oh …anok-anok (Oh, the children)
tokleh meghaso mandi laok (will not be able to experience what it feels like to swim in the seas)
Besaing,maing ghama-ghama (and play in it together)
Ale lo ni tuo umurnyo bejuto (the earth is millions of years old)
Kito usoho (we should work)
Jauhke dari malapetako (to protect it from disaster)
Ozon lo ni koho nipih nak nak aghi (the ozone layer is thinning yet still we)
Keno make asak (keep burning)
Hok biso wei,pasa maknusio (It is poisoned by humans)
Seghemo bendo-bendo di dunio (all the things in the world)
Tokleh tehe (will not last)
Sapa bilo-bilo (forever)
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I’m sad to say that even though there was already a movement over 20 years ago to fight global warming, we still lost irreplaceable parts of the earth.
I know for certain that some lakes and forests no longer exist and neither your children nor mine will ever be able to wake up to the chance of experiencing their beauty. They will never be able to see the same birds that I saw, never be able to come home with their shoes filled with the white sands of that same beach I played on as a child. Land reclamation and fancy profit promising condominiums have givenn their assurance to that.
Welcome 2009, a new year, a new day,another notch on the Earth’s age but also a new era where Mother Nature’s disfigurement leaves her unrecognisable to those of us who have seen her when she was thriving with life and beauty.
I am happy and grateful for the chance to see and be apart of a new year, but I am sad to have to look around and realise how much more we have lost.
