Four Big Questions (#PlanetOrPlastic)

Four Big Questions.

The first question came tumbling out of her lips.

She smiled bright, with all her teeth showing, and her eyes gleamed with excitement, as she jumped up and down lightly where she stood, on the balls of her feet. Tugging on her mother's hand, she gave a big, big smile and asked, "What is this place?"

Her mother smiled. "This, my dear, is the museum. It's a wonderful place, filled with knowledge about any topic you can think of!"

The girl's face lit up with awe and her eyes shone with curiousity. Her neck craned all the way back, as she took in the building from top to bottom. 

The mother smiled at her little bundle of curiosity, and took her hand in hers to guide her inside the museum.

The girl was more than glad to follow.
But once inside, she immediately cowered behind her mother.

It was daunting to be surrounded by so many constantly moving objects, so many people, and so many other things that she couldn't understand, in one huge place.

She peeked out from behind her mother, still wary of it all, when something caught her eye and had her instantly pulling her mother in the direction of an exhibit, adorned with the sign of  'New' atop it.

The girl stopped near the entrance of the exhibit and asked with wonder, "What's this Ma?"

Her mother smiled again, although this time the smile was sadder. "That, my child, is the Plastic exhibit."

The child's face scrunched up in confusion. The word sounded strange. She had never heard of it before.

Her mother gently guided her inside.

The exhibit was covered from top to bottom in everything plastic. Plastic tires, plastic bottles, plastic utensils, plastic everything.

But that wasn't it.

The exhibit also contained heartwrenching photos of various creatures affected by these plastics, from fishes that had swallowed it, to ecosystems being polluted by it.

The little girl looked horrified. Her heart pained, and she thought out loud, "How can something so small and thin be so destructive?"

She turned towards her mother, who had her lips pursed while looking at the exhibit.

On hearing the pained little voice, her mother looked down at the little girl, sorrowfully, and replied, "In the process of making a Utopia, we ushered in the Apocalypse."

She pointed at one of the photographs, one of a turtle with a plastic ring around its shell, and continued, "Poor creatures, much like this one, suffered at the hands of humans, because we disposed off these plastics in the wrong way."

"Plastics were supposed to be revolutionary, but our incapability to handle them properly led to all of this." She said, while gesturing to the exhibit.

"But," and here the mother's smile brightened, "we stopped it in time."

The child had been listening intently and at this, she questioned eagerly, "How?"

The mother smiled that same smile again.

How, indeed, did we help our Planet survive?
The answer, is up to us.