Our planet is made up of many different features and structures. Every part of our world is unique, not just as a result of the culture and history of its occupants, but also because of the geographical nature of the areas. There are mountains so tall and magnificent that they have been adorned with crowns of ice and clouds. On the other hand, there are also valleys so deep and breathtaking that it leads one to see in awe, how the hands of time have parted the earth to allow the passage of a small river.
However, the landform that has always stunned me is one that is usually not viewed as a pleasant place to visit. It is associated with heat, dust and desolation. This is the desert.
I find the desert beautiful because it is the perfect representation of humanity. The desert itself is a structure of the past. It is a permanent reminder of things that used to exist, but no longer do. The desert sand is made up of mountains that have been eroded to nothing, streams and rivers that have dried away, and creatures that are no longer alive. The deserts have birthed civilisations and contained the entirety of their existence in each crystalline grain until they were later revealed by winds or scientists. The deserts cradle and protect the stories of our ancestors while warding off new roots of inhabitation. Most importantly, the deserts remind us what our lives are.
As young people, we do not think much about the end. We rarely contemplate what comes after our life – what it will all mean when it is over. This is because there is no reason to. After all, we are just beginning our journey. Regardless of this, we will occasionally wonder where our lives will take us. We may wonder if all the effort that we are placing on a particular endeavour will have any great effect on the world, or even if we will achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves. This is where the desert can serve to be a symbol that comforts us.
Life, like the shifting dunes in a desert, is always changing. Not only do we grow and change as we progress through life, but life itself changes to mean something new to us at each stage. There are moments that we wish would never end, and there are others that we wish had never occurred. As long as life takes place, both these kinds of moments will find you, one after the other, and there is not much we can do but cherish and learn from them.
As for our plans and goals, they can guide us through difficult times and give us a purpose. However, they can also crumble and fall away like sand between our fingers because life is quite unpredictable.
Despite the constant futility of some of our efforts, or even the great effects of others, we must always be willing to accept that life will not continue to be the same way that it is now. It will change and change you with it. We must never forget that even in the darkest, coldest night in a desert, there is always a soft remnant of the sun’s glowing heat buried deep within the sand. There is always a purpose that tethers you to this world, and though you may not have fully understood it yet, you may already be on the path to fulfilling it.
