its not just the environment - 17th week Tuesday
The servants wanted to pull out the
weeds but the owner said that pulling out the weeds would only compromise the
good seeds. “Let them both grow together until the harvest, the owner
said, and at harvest time wheat and
weeds will be separated, the weeds to be burned and the wheat will be brought
into the barn.”
Life is
complicated. It would have been easier
if there is a line that would clearly separate weeds from wheat. But in reality the roots of the weeds are
interlocked with those of the wheat that it becomes difficult to pull out one
without harming the roots of the other.
It would have been easier if a line is drawn between weeds and wheat to
clearly distinguish one from the other.
But that is not the case here, since wheat and weeds look exactly the
same through it growing stage. Only when
the wheat bears fruit that is can be clearly distinguished from the weeds. It is complicated.
Environmental
issues are like that. They are not just
environmental issues. If they are, then
probably we could just legislate laws that would ban plastics, we could make
policies that would limit the use coal and fossil fuels. Or probably some of you can invent a way to
convert water into electricity so that we can have an endless supply of cheap power. No it is not that simple. Instead Laudato si wants us to understand
that environmental problems are not just environmental problems. Rather it is a complex problem. It is environmental as well as a social
crisis, it is an economic as well as cultural problem, it can even be ethical
and moral as well . Why is this so?
Some of you might have read a book by Robert Fulghum entitled, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Two of the advices there are, one, clean up your own mess; second flash the toilet after you use it. So what’s the connection? When we grew up in a world nga tanan ta nga ginalapta, tanan ta nga ginapamilin-milin may nagasunod, then we will grow up thinking that somebody will clean our own mess, we will grow up with the attitude nga total nagalabay man lang ako di, bahala na ya ang masunod. In the future this is not just about a piece of paper, this is not just the wrapper of soap or shampoo which I leave on the ledges of the shower area, this is not just cotton buds which I throw over the window. No. When the Americans left Subic they also left hazardous chemicals which until now is a health hazard to people living and working there. Two months ago big 50 20-ton container vans were sent to the Philippines from Canada filled with garbage. Now why would you leave or send garbage to another country. Imo na ya, indi bala?
This is not just an environmental issue – this is attitude, this is character formation, this is about training, this is about conscience, this is a problem in culture, this is problem even in simple manners, this is about how you look at yourself and how you look at other people, this is how you treat poorer nations. This is not just about the environment.
Some of you might have read a book by Robert Fulghum entitled, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Two of the advices there are, one, clean up your own mess; second flash the toilet after you use it. So what’s the connection? When we grew up in a world nga tanan ta nga ginalapta, tanan ta nga ginapamilin-milin may nagasunod, then we will grow up thinking that somebody will clean our own mess, we will grow up with the attitude nga total nagalabay man lang ako di, bahala na ya ang masunod. In the future this is not just about a piece of paper, this is not just the wrapper of soap or shampoo which I leave on the ledges of the shower area, this is not just cotton buds which I throw over the window. No. When the Americans left Subic they also left hazardous chemicals which until now is a health hazard to people living and working there. Two months ago big 50 20-ton container vans were sent to the Philippines from Canada filled with garbage. Now why would you leave or send garbage to another country. Imo na ya, indi bala?
This is not just an environmental issue – this is attitude, this is character formation, this is about training, this is about conscience, this is a problem in culture, this is problem even in simple manners, this is about how you look at yourself and how you look at other people, this is how you treat poorer nations. This is not just about the environment.
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