YOU KNOW ME, BUT DO YOU LOVE ME?

 You see me everywhere you go. You benefit from my very existence. We exchange pleasantries through the miracle of osmosis. My feet are planted firmly in the ground, while you stomp about freely, totally oblivious to my invaluable service to mankind as a whole. You take a little piece of my soul and my sole purpose for being away from me daily, without a care; without so much as a “Thank You!”

I labor hard against your efforts to destroy me and the very ground you walk upon. My friends and family do not matter to you as long as you have your precious internet, power, water, and food sources intact. You ride man-made paths of concrete, asphalt, and steel, wiping out my kind in the process; then replacing us with some token, ornamental rock or shrub, which barely provides any natural use or purpose. Without me and mine, you would fold up and die, and unwillingly become food for me and my family. You cut us down without thinking, “Who lives here? Anybody home?” Just kill, kill, kill; that is all you know.

You breathe in what I exhale and vice versa. We have a perfectly balanced symbiotic relationship until your greed consumes us all, (and eventually, you in the process). Slow down, human! You are just a temporary resident here. I have been here for hundreds of years, but your unnatural selection process may convert me into a piece of furniture, firewood, or even a house! Houses do not convert your human exhaust into oxygen like I do. But what do you care? You are transitory at best, and you may never even live long enough to see the next comet grace the sky. So, what is your plan, human? Are you going to start recycling, stop littering and polluting, and plant more of my friends and family than you consume? Where do we go from here? I am open to suggestions. If not, just breathe while you still can. Unlike you, human, I still care.