What are we?
Dust or glory?
Fragile or mighty?

This is the veil no one can lift. Yet science embarked on an endless journey, proving our potential through its creations. Today, technology, artificial intelligence, and the web of the internet showcase our pride, might, and competence, but the question arises: 

‘Are they truly our creations? 

And if so, are they even worthy of being our crown, our pride?’

Nobody can answer these questions except nature itself. And if nature were to reply, it would probably say, ‘Yes, every robot, every piece of AI and every so-called progress is human creation.’ Because no other being, living or non-living, would ever harm its own habitat in the name of technology. It is only man who erases forests for infrastructure, steals the homes of countless creatures, and pollutes the air when the land asks for nothing but peace and care.

And yet, behind all this destruction lies a single truth: the human desire that never knows contentment. For inside every human being there is an infinite want for more;  that is why they are nothing but ‘hollow men’, as T. S. Eliot once described. We run blindly to satisfy our greed for victory, not knowing we are striking the axe upon our very feet until nature steps forward, humbling us and revealing our true worth that:

‘Our pride of being high and mighty is nothing but an illusion.’

And so, in routine patterns, we face the destruction of climate change- urging us to stop for once and look around: at the state of our environment, pollution in our air, and the exhaustion of our natural resources. Massive earthquakes shake our cities, floods drown places like Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar, and sudden cloudbursts with lightning remind us of our fragility.

Yet instead of stopping, we keep feeding our hollow pride, stuffing it endlessly. Why don’t we take a pause and ask ourselves how to be productive for once, instead of being destructive? Instead of satisfying the greed of empty pride, why not nurture our environment?

Because if we do not act today, these signs may turn into the last warnings, just as it happened to Nuh and his people, who ignored him until no one was left behind. That story revealed the true worth of man, the so-called mightiest of all creatures.

It is time for us to understand, to stop bearing more loss, and to accept the truth before it is too late.

 ‘We are nothing but dust created from dust and destined to return to dust.’

This land demands nothing from us but care and love. Why not leave it purer, not for ourselves, but for those who will come after us?

Advancement itself is not wrong. But the way we pursue it often is. Cutting forests is not progress; it destroys our health, our reserves, and the homes of wild animals. Even our machines and systems consume immense amounts of water to cool, while we already face conflicts over water resources.

There is much to quote, but one truth remains: do good, and never forget that if we fail to play our part today, tomorrow nature will surely show us the cost of our negligence in the form of more floods, more destruction, and more loss.