WORK in the city deprives us of color. Everything artificial around us, machinery noise and pollution invading our senses, abrasive heat mixed with sweat and dust on our skin. Daily pressure and stress awakening abrupt behaviors, exasperation, sometimes even despair. Tension. Then a ring-necked parakeet flies croaking on a date palm and our eyes follow it. A flash of nature, a flash of color. For a few seconds, something settles inside us. Peace. Everything is OK. Nature has sent us a message that we are part of it, that it is part of us. Its colors, sounds, its very existence ensures an oasis of harmony inside us, no matter the daily harshness of life. In an outing towards the desert, in a plunge underwater, all ruggedness of the soul subsides, like calming waves on the shore, and inner balance is restored. Who would have thought?

I spend time in coffee shops, in diwaniyas and driving everywhere in my car. It’s part of life’s excitement, contact with my fellow humans, much-needed socializing and the pleasure of sharing in my community. But these activities lack color. They lack the filter to ugliness, which nature gives. While in the Heritage Village in Failaka, I paddled in a small lake and was suddenly encircled by bright white geese, grooming themselves. Watching them, a black cormorant from a rock in the lake. The stark contrast between the colors of the birds got me mesmerized. I took some photos which I still look at today and feel the amazement, the serenity of the moment, the sheer calming effect, and how that moment defined the rest of my day when, without thinking about it, I felt very content and in no rush to get back into town.
When the weather allows it, I go diving or snorkeling with my friends. I used to fish a lot, but recently involved with conservation efforts for the environment I’m now more reluctant to fish. I have discovered that color in the coral reef areas of our country is so explosive, that I got an underwater housing for my camera and started taking this color above water, in my photos, to watch and to cherish when the going gets tough. The world of perfect balance that I encounter down there, with its soft bubbling sounds and the crackling song of the coral, comes up again every time I look at my photos and has a soothing effect beyond words.

I share the beauty of our fish and birds with my friends and family and they ask: Is this in Kuwait? I say yes it is, it’s ours, it’s part of who we are and of what we are. It’s accessible to all, free of charge. If we chose it, it can be our daily soother of the soul, no pills, no doctors, no urgent need for coffee or cigarette. If we let nature’s colors and sounds come close to us, we can feel the unity with them and genuinely sense that as long as all of us are present on this earth, everything is going to be all right. I have volunteered in nature protection efforts, both marine and terrestrial. There are movements in this country with the potential of preserving our natural wealth. It is not hard to be part of them. And it’s useful to help out the sea, the desert and our wetlands in community efforts. But if you don’t feel like contributing, like giving, then at least, I invite you to feel. Just open your eyes and ears to the beauty of nature whereever you can find it. It’s a sure way to breathe pure life and feel content as a true child of God.