Hope through a circle of glass

Flowers bloom, trees sway in the wind and squirrels dash up trees to avoid the dogs that chase them. Through my little eye I can see this a great place to be, despite the ominous feeling of the gray sky above us. I used to hear the occasional song of a bird, but now it seems that even the caw of a crow feels rare. That was one of our first moments together. It felt as if Javier was always an adventurer. Never hesitant to climb up a cliff, or dive off of one. From the moment we started working together, we realized that the world needed someone to show its beauty, and the scars that humans lash across her. We put forth our all, to show the world was something worth cherishing, something worth protecting.

I blink at the sky - no sight of the sun - and I feel the sudden urge to jump as high as I can, to pierce right through the hand that looms over us, but I cannot. All I can do is sit and wait. 

Soon enough, we start our journey again, looking left and right, here and there for the imperceptible corners camouflaged under a veil of propaganda. I listen, and learn that the place I love the most is dying. That is why I have been devoted to help as much as I can, recording and seeing through everything, my one eye flashing furiously at the observations we turn into stories. I hold the name beside me with pride, Javier Cang, and together we travel the world to find the events unseen. 

We stand on a cliff, gazing out at the horizon. This used to be our favorite place to take pictures of the wide, open sea. As we look off the edge, it has changed. The sun is now muffled by a layer of dust and smog. A small clump of trash gathered at the shore. A group of seagulls fly past us, and the waves throw themselves onto the rocky shores. A smokestack puffing in the distance. I wish I could jump, jump as high up into space as I could to finally see from above, the place where I was made, the place we call Earth, a blue planet that’s losing its green jacket. 

We both see the world in a way that makes him and them feel motivated; I see the world in a way that can make a change, and pierce like a bee in this battle. So I speed up; I sweat and my heat gradually then cools into peace. The faces of a sphere that no one sees storm into my eyes. I sit on the table, and douse my information onto the internet, creating stories, creating ideas so they, the humans, can see too. This is about families breaking, animals losing homes, green disappearing. It’s about the spear of the sun gradually breaking our shield. 

But my photographer is different, as if he wants to see the world a better place, like me. The wind and water, the seemingly most primitive sources give us power and energy. I can see through my eyes the people that bend their hips down to pick up one plastic bottle. I remember the clouds on the highest peak, tossing below our feet, like white sea. A layer of water vapor covering the lush flora of the amazon, embracing its leaves with gentle hands. Waterfalls reflecting off sunlight, like the mane of a great lion prancing in the hunt, and fields of grass, swaying in the cool wind. I want, he wants, to protect these invaluable places of nature, because we, they believe that something can be done. We pick up our gear and head off again.