LIVING IN A THROW-AWAY ECONOMY

 

Frequently, Pope Francis will bring up the topic of taking responsibility that we live in a ‘throw away world.’  When we are finished with something or someone, we cast them aside.

 

What does that mean to us as individuals and as human beings?

 

There are many people within our Christian churches whose faith is only about our relationship with Jesus and our salvation for heaven and to avoid hell. This constricted notion of the Christian life has no responsibility for the well-being of our fellow human beings nor for the sustenance of the earth.

 

If you wear socks that are much too tight on your feet, the blood circulation will be constricted and you will experience pain. If your religious horizon is too limited, you will be limiting how God’s grace is able to work in your life. Your too small spiritual socks could shrink your spiritual life.

 

A throw-away culture treats people and things only in so far as they are beneficial to me. I do not have to care about the consequences of the things I use. It is all very self-centered.

 

I will buy a vehicle, use it for so many years, and then trade it off on the purchase of a new one. What happens to all that mental, glass and plastic (plus all the energy it took to manufacture that vehicle)? Is it just cast in the garage dump?

 

Humans can do the same with people. There are groups of poor people who are so limited in their access to education, good jobs and health care. Every society has the people who are at the bottom of the social ladder. Who cares for them? Who sees to it that the poor people are given the same opportunities as the people in the upper layers of society?

 

Here is where the power of our Christian faith lies. It challenges us not to look away from our wasteful culture but to take a second look at what we are  doing with resources and examine how well the goods of the earth are shared with the people at the lower socio-economic levels.

 

Pope Francis is challenging all humans and all Christians to take a second look at what we are doing. And at the same time, to see how we could be making much better use of the resources of the earth and looking how we are treating all human groups within our society with equality.

 

As soon as we reflect on how we are a throw-away society we will ask how much of the earth’s resources we are using and how many of the earth’s resources we are over-using. How many people or social groups are we casting aside? As we begin to frame our questions in terms of a throw-away society, we are being challenged to do some heavy lifting with regard to our use of the earth’s resources. What if we are using the earth’s resources in a useless manner?

 

Will there be enough of the earth’s resources for future generations?

 

This is a very simple concept, but it packs a strong punch!