Payback time
Earth is a planet with living and non-living things. It is our home, the place where we go through all sorts of experience. But as owners of this so called home, have we nurtured and maintained her strength and her stability?
That’s a good question whose answer requires a good dose of honesty.
We have to accept the fact that we have exploited nature’s beauty and bounty. We abused her to the fullest. We used her without considering reservations and limitations.
Fierce judgment? No, it’s fair judgment based on genuine pieces of evidence. And I am sure that after a trial, all of us would be judged guilty beyond reasonable doubt for this crime: destroying our land, our origin, our home, our Mother Earth.
The result: landslides, super typhoons, storm surges, floods. These are the products of our lack of environmental awareness and of our irresponsibility.
It only takes a second to borrow from our planet. However, it takes forever to pay these. Nature’s wrath can’t be controlled anymore. They are like thieves that come during cold nights.
Payback time has started, so expect the unexpected. The mistake of our generation will be forwarded to the future. Our grandsons and granddaughters shall pay the remaining interests of our debts, which are handed from one generation up to the last.
Que sera, sera.
Afraid? We still have the option to participate, to get involved, to be aware, to be prepared. Our choice will be the framework of our future, our destiny. Disaster preparedness and awareness can lessen the harm that the catastrophe might bring to us.
The future is for us to design. Our planet won’t become stable like the one 1,000 B.C.E. ago. It won’t stop making us experience the pain that it endured. However, there are still remedies that can cure our nature’s illnesses.
Choose to participate. Choose to be knowledgeable than to be information illiterate. Choose to be prepared than to be unprepared. Above all, be the responders in emergencies and disasters. Be informed, be aware and be responsible.--Jey Ann G, Alimpolos, Cebu Technological University– San Fernando Extension Campus