Graciele Averia 3NUR-1

“Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a

social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so

as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” (Paragraph 50)

Paragraph 50 really hit me about hearing the both the cry of the earth and the cry of the

poor. Whenever I see a classmate, a friend, a family member or a random stranger

crying I usually feel empathy. Especially if it’s a public place, as if something affected

them so much, they had to cry it out. They had to show that vulnerability. It could be

bad or good but the cry for help, the cry because of pain and sorrow are the worst

kinds. One can walk away or put on earphones or cover one’s ears in order to block out

the sounds of crying. It becomes difficult, like Pope Francis said, to hear the cry of

nature. Especially since it’s been practically made “normal” to just merely throwaway

things, taking for granted the resources that we have available to us. It’s also easy to

forget sometimes that we are supposed to be taking care of the beautiful gift that is

nature. It’s easy to believe sometimes that everything is ours to take when in fact it’s

God’s and we’re entrusted with Nature, to take care of it and to be advocates of this

planet.

“Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations,

we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely

received and must share with others…the world we have received also belongs to those

who will follow us.” (Paragraph 159)

Looking ahead, the way we’ve been living our lives, the throwaway culture and

whatnot, doesn’t line up with what’s best for the future. Especially for our future
children and grandchildren. Each tree we cut down, each piece of trash we throw in the

ocean, each minute we have our lights just turned on at home during the day time with

no one home, each waking hour spent supporting brands that do animal testing, each

time we neglect a chance to plant trees or help advocate the environment could have

detrimental effects in the future. There might not be a world to appreciate anymore if

we continue at a pace like this.

Reflecting, I think that what we fail to do is be grateful for the blessings that are

practically handed to us by God and by Nature. When we’re grateful for what we have,

we wouldn’t keep wanting more and more and more. We won’t keep taking and taking

and taking from the environment. We won’t be selfish. We would give back. We would

be able to see this wonderful gift of Creation as a gift to give, a gift to cherish, a gift to

guard, an heirloom passed on from God, our Father, for the future generations to come.

Breaking the barriers of selfishness and self-centeredness could be the ultimate solution

to all the problems in the environment, may it be internal environment (inside our

hearts) or external environment (outside our bodies).