Last letter to my son

The recent U.N. Climate Report, and the ever-present challenges of the pandemic, paint a challenging portrait of our modern world; and while there may be little debate about how we arrived at this point, the more pressing question is undoubtedly one of where do we go from here? 

It feels, and has indeed for some time, that we’ve reached a genuine crossroads in the story. The proposed reforms and actions of the present will have immeasurable consequences on the future of existence and the kind of world we intend to leave behind for generations to come. What guidance or wisdom can we glean from this moment, and to whom should leave it? Again we reach for Nazim Hikmet and this excerpt from “Last Letter to my Son”, a poet for whom the call to love and compassion was as vital to life as the air we breathe. 

Your mother
And I said good-bye one morning,
thinking we'd meet again,
but we couldn't.

She's the kindest
and the smartest of mothers -
may she live to be a hundred!

I don't fear death.
Still,
It's no fun
to startle in the middle of work sometimes
Or count the days
before falling asleep alone.
You can never have enough of the world,
Memet, never enough...

Don't live in the world as if you were renting
or here for only the summer,
but act as if it was your father's house...
Believe in seeds, earth, and the sea,
but people above all.
Love clouds, machines, and books,
but people above all.
Grieve
For the withering branch,
the dying star,
and the hurt animal,
But feel for people above all.
Rejoice in all the earth's blessings --

Darkness and light,
the four seasons,
but people above all.

​Written during a period of exile from his native and beloved Turkey, Hikmet’s living wisdom serves as a letter to us all, and speaks to our own personal relationships with the natural world, but also with people most importantly. “Last Letter to my Son” speaks to the generational passing of time, and the responsibility we have to ensure a more tenable future for all mankind.