Hand in hand with the environment

Ever since the day I was born, I’ve subconsciously realized that I have to adapt to
every circumstance I am involved in so that I’ll be able to survive in this world. I can be
influenced by my surroundings just the way they function in the society. First of all, my
family and relatives influenced me at the very start. Together with them, the place where I
lived and the people around them, they also contributed to how I perceive the environment,
make decisions and what actions I should take every significant time and place.
The way the physical environment contributes to my life indicates how it changes
because of the people ever since I was born until now. I still remember my childhood days
when I just have to open our door to get outside and I can immediately smell the fresh air. I
was around 5 years old at that time when my mother would hold my little hand and starts
walking towards our destination. During that time, I can really smell fresh air because
there's a lot of healthy trees out there and the rivers were still clean and clear. You see, I was
born in Tacloban City and we lived in the farm side of the city. As I eventually grew up, we
moved to Metro Manila because my father's work was assigned here and we also decided to
live with my grandparents’ house in Taguig City. Back then, houses weren’t crowded, the
roads were wide and I remember playing with my siblings outside without having to worry
about accidents since the moving vehicles were far enough from the houses. The time came
when we have to move here in Parañaque City and everything changed rapidly. We lived
near the river in Palanyag, San Dionisio and it’s a good sight to see. There are lots of
mangroves where fish like tilapia live and reproduce. Also, in front of our house, there are
lots of plants and trees where we can play under the shade during afternoon with my
friends. We often catch praying mantis and spiders to play with them. Sadly, time passed by
quickly and a lot of people settled there in our compound until the day came when they
have to cut trees to make enough space for building houses and the river dried up and trash
starts to pile up. After that, we suffered greatly when Typhoon Ondoy strikes the country.
The flood level in our place was so high that we have to evacuate. It was very traumatic but I
guess that’s how nature get their revenge.
Up until now, I still find it hard to socialize with other people and the reason for that
is the action of people around me. I really don’t talk to people that much even to my family
and I become anxious whenever strangers talk to me. When I started studying, I just go to
school and then stay at home. We lived in a place where people just don’t care about how
noisy they were even at night. Despite that, we tend to maintain the values by respecting our
neighbors and being polite to them. I was born in a Christian family and we believed by the
teaching of God through the Bible. We always go to church every Sunday, attend prayer
meeting every Wednesday and participate in any kind of church activities like retreats, team
building and also camping.
Learning about environment is not just limited in school. Learning about it means
that you have to live with it and understand its sole purpose. As I encounter a lot of people
in my life, I have learned that not all of them are worth of my precious time. The community
I grew up with helped me to be careful among people who can cause harm to my emotions.
The Creator whom I believed in helped me gain hope during my low times since when I was
a child, they taught me about trusting God and it is always marked in my mind, heart and
soul. The manners that have been taught to me still lives on as I always show politeness and
respect to people. When it comes to nature, I’ve learned about the definition of global
warming in school but I learned it deeply by experiencing it real-time. I’ve heard news about
trees being cut down because of building new infrastructures and now I’m so annoyed when
experiencing intense heat during the day and floods during heavy rainfall. As my mind
became more mature, I’m amazed about the innovations and improvements of living
because it makes our works easier. Sadly, it’s our fault our nature is dying and we should
be prepared on what’s going to happen to us in the near future.

Word count: 800 words