Antonia Patricia Herrera Veas

Lampa, Chile

Listen.

Do you know climate activists? Well, my daughter is one of them. She’s so obsessed that she works with people from all around the globe to “Save Our Planet.” God, they won’t change the world! Besides, it’s not like we’re dying. We’re just fine. Or so I had thought.

One night, at dinner, she started talking about how we had to do something soon and blah, blah, blah. I fell asleep.

But,  I didn’t just dream. It was a nightmare.

Scientists got tired. After all the research and advice we dismissed, they stopped. Years after that, forests and millions of animals lived solely in our memories. We forgot what the sky used to look like. The gray, dense clouds over our heads obscured our spirits, and nobody laughed anymore. Our irritated eyes could only show how ill and scared we were. And ultimately, it was announced that we would run out of water by the end of the decade.

I gasped and woke up, sitting bolt upright on my chair. My daughter came to check on me, and I looked at her innocent eyes: the eyes that had tried innumerable times to make me understand.

That is when I decided to listen.

 What would you have done?