In the Holy Bible, in Genesis 1 of the Old Testament, we are told of God creating the World; soon he added life, water, plants and humans to his creation, thereby making the environment comprehensive for us humans to grow and prosper.
This was the initial vision of God the Father when He planned to create the Universe and placed us human beings into it.
The Earth in full is a gift to humans and is a gift of life. And every gift is to be respected, cherished, nurtured, enjoyed and one must give thanks to the giver in gratitude for it.
It came to us free.
We in Goa have to be both – grateful and thankful to God for giving us the gift of a land of plenty. Goa is endowed with all of nature’s bounty and we must acknowledge that while God created the Universe, He was kind to Goa. The land with vast green lands, beaches, red earth and blessed with cultures, heritage and a warm hearted people – Goemkars.
Paddy Harvest in October –
But it is highly visible that in Goa today, we humans have lost touch with the vision of our Creator. We are not honouring the Master’s creations, but we are rather using and abusing Mother Nature as per our selfish needs and gains.
In the month of September, we offer flowers to Mother Mary as a symbol of tribute to the Mother who takes care of us and our world. In October, we gather around the statue of Mother Mary and remember Our Lady of Fatima, who appeared to the shepherd children while they grazed their cattle in green pastures – again provided by the Lord.
Yet, if we observe carefully in Goa, today we too have a lot of abundance in nature. Our farmer brothers, ‘Shetcamti’, will harvest the paddy crop this month, which is grown by God’s own blessings upon our land.
Yet, amidst the green paddy fields these days, we find non-degradable wastes like plastic and other things which may degrade our fields and leave them unproductive for the coming years.
If we worshipped the Lord’s created nature and the environment as a gift from the Almighty, we would pick every speck of waste that is littered and would dispose it in the most judiciable and acceptable manner and not damage the environment.
Garbage free surroundings –
Our society and authorities request us to dispose waste sensibly and as per the given norms, but then why can’t we follow rules and practice good habits while throwing out our garbage and waste?
Why does our garbage land into our neighbour’s property?
Why does our garbage get thrown into open spaces of nature?
Why does our garbage reach the paddy fields where our food grows?
Why can’t we respect the free gift of The Lord’s Earth?
If we can get ourselves to answer these questions in this month, I think the areas in our Parish and City will see reduced garbage levels. As Catholics, worshipping the very God who created the Universe, Earth and World, we have a duty to save and preserve our planet by reducing our garbage imprint and also religiously respect God’s creation.
How else do we see our children grow up in a garbage free environment?
So whenever we are not being responsible to dispose garbage with respect to God and his created Nature, we are insulting God’s beautiful gift, especially of a clean and green Goa.
cedric DaCosta