My colleague Albert Escanilla, Campus Minister of Ancilla College, joined us for our Fossil Free Fast watch party. It’s been a pleasure working with him and learning from his work and reflections. He wanted to share this with the readers of this blog:
It is nearing a week since I joined the Center at Donaldson Fossil Fuel Fast Watch Party, and yet the messages mentioned still strongly resonates within me. I am unsure where exactly it has taken its roots, as I pondered: was the feeling of wanting to stay longer, but needed to attend to family responsibilities, or that I already filled up my Honda Fit twice full tank this week after selectively looking for the cheapest gas station, or was it the failed attempt again to walk to the grocery store this week because of the single digit temperature? I am certain it was the combination, but at the very essence, it is the inability to accept that I cannot escape our fossil fuel hungry society, and “living off the grid” is not an option at the moment.
Therefore, with such acceptance, I have alleviated these internal uneasiness and desire to escape, by altering my perspectives in our mass fossil fuel consumption issue. One’s mindfulness and diligence in daily choices when pertaining to the ecosystem should be practiced. These entails simple choices with noticeable results, and even more so monumental with time and when practiced as a community. Some of these daily things are bringing ones’ own water bottle, inflating car tires to the appreciate PSI in accordance to weather (increase fuel efficiency) and proper disposals of hazardous household materials (batteries and paint). There are ample things that are within our control, and the more we can share these practices with others, the more our eco-minded communities will flourish.
Thus, as the article concludes with the quote, “Rome wasn’t built in a day…but they were laying bricks every hour”, and our future will be dependent on “how quickly we decided to lay these bricks”; I would like to contribute to our endeavors with the idea of increasing our “eco-likeminded bricklaying communities”, beginning with ourselves to further hastening the paving of our 21st century eco-friendly Pax Romana.
”It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers’ not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”
-excerpt from Bishop Ken Untener of Sagnaiw’s Archebishop Oscar Romero Prayer: A Step Along the Way
Albert, thanks for your reflection. So right on target. We achieve nothing by just saying it’s impossible. It’s just as easy to say I can – I can make a choice every morning, afternoon and night. Little choices that add up, like you say, brick by brick. That’s a great Lenten project that keeps motivating oneself to do a little bit more.
Happy building a better planet on which to live!
Sr. Shirley