I don’t know where I came from.
I borrowed a strand of DNA from my mother,
another from my father,
and matter from food
converted into proteins, carbohydrates, fats,
cells and tissues
quietly accumulated while I rested
in my mother’s womb.
I don’t know where I came from,
but one day I was born.
Suddenly, I had a factory of my own
producing energy, building cells,
growing bone, blood, and breath.
Slowly, I grew from a seed into a plant,
developing parts of my own,
choices of my own,
a will of my own,
until I became a whole person.
I don’t know where I came from,
but now I am on Earth,
and I call this place my home.
It feels as though I have forgotten everything
that came before.
All I know is Mother Earth
and everyone here.
I don’t know where I will go.
It seems there was an infinity before I arrived
and another infinity after I leave,
both dissolving into oblivion.
This moment feels like everything
this very second,
so fleeting, yet eternal while it lasts.
I am a tiny speck
on a vast and infinite timeline.
I don’t know where I came from
or where I belong,
yet the place that gave me my body
also shaped my mind.
I began to accumulate
not just a body made of Mother Earth,
but clothes, homes, jewels, furniture,
electronics and technology
all drawn from her,
and from the greater universe itself.
I don’t know where I came from.
Once smaller than a single cell,
now I feel as if I am everything.
I begin to believe I am entitled
to what was only ever loaned to me,
forgetting that nothing here
is mine to keep forever.
I took this loan,
and one day I must repay it
with interest
carrying a bag of karma
shaped by all that I do
and all that I accumulate.
I don’t know where I came from,
and I don’t know where I will go.
I don’t know where anyone came from
or where anyone will go.
But I know this:
Mother Earth is wondrous.
She gives us a temporary stop,
a place to live, to learn,
to rise and to fall
to be born and to die,
to move from innocence and ignorance
toward maturity and understanding.
I don’t know where I came from,
but I hope to develop the wisdom
to recognize my ego,
to honor the life I’ve been given,
and to make the most
of this precious loan
from my mother...
Earth.
Dr. Jaya Sonkar, MD, MPH
1.8.2026
©️ COPYRIGHT 2026. Dr. Jaya Sonkar MD MPH. All Rights Reserved
Donating sanitizers to a busy local store.
