Earth Day

There are a lot of commercial purpose special days. But today has not to be one of them. Earth is the only place we have to live. Our planet is fragile, helpless, and wonderful. We have to take care of it in a really commitment way.



We have to fight when the local governments (Municipalidades) decide to cut old trees. The excuse is: “big trees are dangerous, they catch thunders”. No way. We can fix it adding a big steel stick in the upper part of the tree.

I have a little place in the sidewalk planted with trees. My neighbors’ dogs destroy them every week. I keep planting trees: I had two big “güitites”, one planted by the birds. I planted two “guayaba” trees and they are hardly surviving. I planted two coffee plants, but they are not going to resist. I had a lemon tree which survived after cutting the big tree and then the roots where too big to put them away, so the tree decided to re-born and know it has little lemons on it. My family makes fun of me because I continue trying with the trees. I hope that some day my neighbors understand that the nice place they keep destroying could be a goodfruit provider for them.




One of my neighbors’ houses has an electric fence. They are elder people and they are afraid of be assaulted. Last year we have the visit of two beautiful “pájaros bobos”. Then one day one of them was killed by the fence. The other one stay close for a while before to leave. They are loyalty couples. The other “bobo” will never have babies anymore. What a shame!


Maybe most of all will never have big lands to keep rivers alive, but we have to contribute with little details to keep our planet alive and healthy.
When I was a child in Moravia, every June 15th all the children from the school went by foot, to La Isla, nearby the Virilla to plant trees and we were walking and singing the Tree Hymn.
Maybe some of you remember it:

(Letra: José Santos Chocano. Música: Roberto Campadabal)

It is a touchy poem:

Árbol que tiendes hacia las nubes,
en un ejemplo de elevación.
Subir quisiera como tú subes
y abrir las ramas de mi canción.
Diría entonces que el alma mía
solo es un árbol hecho de amor,
que da a los vientos su poesía,
como pudiese dar una flor.

Diría entonces que el sol me ama,
pues si soy árbol mi Padre es él,
y que en mi siempre su viva llama,
de verso en verso,
de rama en rama,
va elaborando frutos de miel.

Pájaro errante: te daré nido,
trémulo anciano toma un bordón.
Romero puedes dormir tendido,
bajo la sombra que me ha salido
de lo más hondo del corazón.
Yo soy el árbol que habla.
El del cuento.
Árbol Florido ¿no eres feliz?
Como tú sube mi pensamiento
y sus flores arroja al viento,
es en su tierra que echa raíz.


I love trees, I love nature, and I try to recycle as much as I can. We, as teachers, have the responsibility of spread the loving feeling about Earth. It is our job: to educate. Maybe it is not enough, but we have to try because we have no other place to go.