“Why Is the World the Way It Is? | A Truth Children Can Understand”

The afternoon fell slowly over Grandma Maria’s garden. The windmill turned slowly, pushed by a gentle breeze that seemed to bring murmurs from far, far away. Under the blackberry tree, like every evening, Uncle Augustine sat on his wooden bench with the blackberry sprig in his mouth. Beside him, Grandma knitted patiently, her apron stained with the day’s harvest.

The children came running. Tomas, Sofia, and Mateo’s cheeks were flushed from playing, but something in their eyes told them they had come with questions bigger than the garden.

“Uncle Augustine,” Sofia said, still agitated, “at school the teacher talked about the world’s problems.” About the water, the climate, the disappearing animals… is all of this really happening?

The old man looked up at the sky, which was already beginning to fill with stars, and sighed.

«Yes. It’s happening… and you’re going to see it with your own eyes. Your world will be different from the one we had.»

«But why, Uncle?» asked Mateo. «Why, if there are so many beautiful things, are there also so many bad things?»

Grandmother stopped knitting and looked at the children tenderly.

«Because, my children… humanity is still very young. We’re just learning to live together without hurting each other.»

Uncle Agustín nodded.

«Look, if the history of the Earth were just one year… we humans would appear in the last minutes of December 31st. We’re a new species, we’re still growing. And like every child, we make many mistakes.»

«Mistakes like fighting?» asked Tomás.

«Exactly,» said Uncle. «We fight over water, over land, over ideas. We think a lot about ourselves, and very little about us. And that’s the real problem: we think we’re alone, but in reality, we’re all in the same boat.»

«And what will happen when we grow up?» Sofia sat closer to Grandma.

«You’ll have to make decisions,» she said. «Decide whether you want to continue down the path of selfishness, or walk together, as siblings. You’ll have to take care of the water, the land, and also take care of each other.»

«But we’re children…» said Mateo, a little fearfully.

«And that’s the most beautiful thing,» replied Uncle Agustín. «Because children can change the world. They’re not full of fixed ideas or fear. You can learn to share, to listen, to think of others.»

«What if no one else wants to change?» asked Tomás.

The mill turned gently, as if responding with its metallic chime.

«Then you will be like that mill,» Uncle said. «Even if the world doesn’t change immediately, you will continue turning, bringing water to the earth, refreshing hearts. One by one. Like the breeze that starts out light and one day becomes a wind that changes everything.»

Grandmother smiled.

«The world’s problems are not solved with technology or force alone. They are solved with awareness and love. And awareness begins when we stop thinking about «me» and start thinking about «us.»

The children fell silent.
The sky was filling with stars.
And in that moment, under the blackberry tree, they understood that they were not small.
They were part of something bigger.
They were the seed of the «new us.»