Little Things Matter





A couple of months ago, I was driving to Agadir, a beautiful city in the south of Morocco, while a neighbor of mine was in the passenger seat devouring a sandwich and drinking lemonade. When he ate up everything, he proudly opened his window  and shamelessly threw away his leftovers, a lemonade can and a plastic bag. I immediately pulled over.

·     Shocked, I said “what have you done? Are you crazy?"
·     He was baffled and instantly replied " Are you ok? What's going on? What’s wrong?"
·     I said " Nothing, just get in the car. Forget about it"

I could try to help him see what he did, but instead I decided to turn the other cheek. If I told you he was illiterate, you would surely recognize the reason why. 

At that moment I learnt that protecting environment cannot be done unless we teach people how to read and write first. I think it perfectly makes sense; priority should be given to the human capital and the latter will take care of the rest.

Amazingly after some time from this incident, I came across this wonderful MedStory Prize 2019 https://www.rootedeveryday.org/ initiative taken by RootedEveryday Foundation. This contest successfully stressed that preserving natural resources around the world cannot be practically and truly done unless we start by developing literacy and raising the new generations' awareness that little things matter. Saving our biodiversity and preserving nature need this kind of initiatives which aim at enhancing students' writing and reading skills along with raising their awareness of the huge importance of living in harmony with nature.

On this occasion, I would like to express my immense pleasure and honor to be one of the readers that are chosen by the organizing committee to read the participants’ stories. I am looking forward to receiving some wonderful deep ones.


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