Note: We continue the reprint as a series of the Holy Father Pope Francis encyclical Laudato Si (On Our Care for Our Common Home).
HUMAN beings, too, are creatures of this world, enjoying a right to life and happiness, and endowed with unique dignity. So, we cannot fail to consider the effects on people’s lives of environmental deterioration, current models of development and the throwaway culture.
Nowadays, for example, we are conscious of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy to live in, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation, and visual pollution and noise. Many cities are huge, inefficient structures, excessively wasteful of energy and water.
Neighborhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space. We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature.
In some places, rural and urban alike, the privatization of certain spaces has restricted people’s access to places of particular beauty. In others, “ecological” neighborhoods have been created which are closed to outsiders in order to ensure an artificial tranquillity. Frequently, we find beautiful and carefully manicured green spaces in so-called safer areas of cities, but not in the more hidden areas where the disposable of society live.
The social dimensions of global change include the effects of technological innovations on employment; social exclusion; an inequitable distribution and consumption of energy and other services; social breakdown; increased violence; and a rise in new forms of social aggression, drug trafficking, growing drug use by young people and the loss of identity. These are signs that the growth of the past two centuries has not always led to an integral development and an improvement in the quality of life. Some of these signs are also symptomatic of real social decline, the silent rupture of the bonds of integration and social cohesion.
Furthermore, when the media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. In this context, the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload. Efforts need to be made to help these media become sources of new cultural progress for humanity and not a threat to our deepest riches. True wisdom, as the fruit of self-examination, dialogue and generous encounter between persons, is not acquired by a mere accumulation of data, which eventually leads to overload and confusion, a sort of mental pollution. Real relationships with others, with all the challenges they entail, now tend to be replaced by a type of Internet communication which enables us to choose or eliminate relationships at whim, thus giving rise to a new type of contrived emotion, which has more to do with devices and displays than with other people and with nature. Today’s media do enable us to communicate and to share our knowledge and affections. Yet, at times, they also shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences. For this reason, we should be concerned that, alongside the exciting possibilities offered by these media, a deep and melancholic dissatisfaction with interpersonal relations, or a harmful sense of isolation, can also arise.
To be continued.
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Caritas Manila continues to strengthen its donations in kind program through the opening of its 23rd charity outlet on November 6 at Simbayanan ni Maria in Taguig City. Bishop of Pasig Most Rev. Mylo Hubert Vergara, DD, joined me in blessing the new outlet. Vice Mayor Ricardo Cruz Jr. led the Taguig City officials who attended the event. We also thank Taguig City Mayor Maria Laarni Lopez Cayetano for her support in this endeavor.
Segunda Mana are used and preloved items, such as apparel, footwear, and accessories, among others, that may benefit others; slow- and nonmoving inventories that may still be used; and goods that consume space in one’s closets, cabinets and garages which are still reusable or recyclable. These items are donated by generous companies, organizations and individuals, and are offered at friendly prices in stalls. Caritas Manila’s Segunda Mana advocates the 3Rs: reuse, reduce and recycle. These 23 charity outlets, likewise, provide employment to almost 6.7 percent unemployed from the urban-poor sector, and livelihood to families who make trading as their source of income.
Proceeds of Segunda Mana help sustain Caritas Manila’s flagship program Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program, which focuses on education for the underprivileged youth, supporting 5,000 scholars nationwide.
To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www.caritasmanila.org.ph. For your donations, call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857. Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.