CLE Reflection - September

Doing Nothing

“Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead.”
James 2:7

 

This passage is one of my favorite passages in the bible.

These few words have the impact of the fire of seven suns, burning through the ignorance of what makes people these days. Well, that is if they actually understand what this passage means.

“Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead” is same as saying “awareness without action is useless.” Both statements are incredibly true.

That is what I see in everyone most of the time. That is what I see in this world.  From newspapers, to television shows, to transportation vehicle, to the streets. Awareness without a action; a dead world. People looking, but not really seeing. That is what most of us are now nowadays, we look but we don’t see, we know but we don’t care, we do but we don’t do good, we help but we only help ourselves. Don’t believe me? Let me show you.

A man wakes up, turns on the television. The weatherman on the news talks about the change of climate recently and slips in a brief information about global warming and what causes it. One of those said causes is pollution. The man turns the television off, walks outside, and takes a pack of cigarette from his left pocket. He lights a stick and smokes it, looking at the black fog the cigarette creates. And he doesn’t even have a tinge of guilt, he’s not even remembering what he just saw on the news. But that’s understandable, right? People smoke, it’s not like he’s doing anything wrong. I mean, it’s only the destruction of the ozone layer. It’s only his world.

A woman goes inside the church, rosaries and scapulars jingling in her pocket as she walks. She has memorized almost most of the passages in the Bible, she knew every prayer in existence. She prays the rosary very frequently as routine. She walks out of the church and was greeted by street children, extending their hands to her, asking for money or at least food. She gets annoyed, shouts at them, and swaps them away. She goes home without guilt. But that was okay right? They were just children on the street. They were just hungry, it wasn’t her fault they’re like that. It’s their parents fault. It’s fine right? What she did was what everyone else would do? I mean, who really paid attention to those beggars? They don’t really matter to anyone, right?

An honor student answers her homework; she encircles the drawing with a man throwing garbage at the right places; in garbage cans. She goes home that day, buys candy, unwraps it, and flicks the candy wrapper to the side of the road. She doesn’t even blink, she continues on walking back to her house. Why should she care about trash as small as that? The street sweepers are going to clean it up anyway, right? It doesn’t really matter. It’s not like it’s a big deal right? It’s not like this planet gets any cleaner. It’s no big deal.

What did I just show you? Did I hit a nerve? I’m sure you see these kind of people everywhere, and I’m also sure that maybe a little part of you is like them.

Taking selfies is so much better than paying attention to the beggars on the streets. It’s okay if that jeep bursts out black smoke, you can’t do anything about it anyway. Every other vehicle does it, why should we care about this one?

Watching television shows is so much more worth my time than watching the news. It’s all the same, same old bad things happening to the country. It’s a waste of time to care, we can’t really do anything about it anyway. And why should we do anything about it? It’s not like we’re affected. It’s not like it’s our problem, right? Television shows are much more entertaining.

 There are no garbage cans, might as well throw trash there, they’ll clean it up anyway. It’s not like we should really care about what’s happening around us, we handle our own problems, we don’t need any other burdens. It’s a waste of time.

We don’t have to entertain those children asking for food, they’re just annoying. The police should just take them away so that they don’t disturb people. No big deal... we have no time for that. It’s not like we should really care, we should just mind our own business.

Don’t want the baby? Just abort it. It’s just a bunch of cells. It’s not actually alive yet, right? It’s not like it has a soul. Just kill it, it doesn’t matter. It’s not alive yet, so it’s not really killing, right? It’s just stopping it from living. It’s not like that’s a bad thing, right?

That kid over there gets bullied all of the time. You don’t know him, why should you do anything about it? You’re only one human being, you’ll get hurt if you interfere, might as well just stay quiet as they beat the life out of him. Doesn’t really matter, he’s not your friend, you’re strangers. What’s important is that you stay away from them. You don’t want trouble. It’s not like you can do anything anyway, right?

Do you see what I’m doing? Do you see what’s happening? And more importantly... do you see yourself?

But then again... it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong. We don’t steal. We don’t cheat. We don’t kill. We’re just minding our own business. We have our own problems. We’re technically still good people. Right?

Wrong.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” –Albert Einstein

“Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead.” –James 2:7

Doing nothing is worse than doing evil things. Doing nothing means letting what you see be rather than making a difference and actually taking part of changing the world. Doing nothing means letting evil have its way, even when you know there’s something wrong.

Conclusion

 

So what exactly am I saying? That all people are bad for being ignorant? That this world is indeed dead? No. I’m not saying that. I’m saying, look at what’s happening right now. Look at yourself.

Do you see it? Do you see what has to be changed? Do you see what has to be done? Can you look at this world and finally for once... actually see?

Awareness without action is useless.  So what are you going to do now? Are you just going to stand there and do nothing?

I hope you don’t.

I hope you stand for yourself and for others. I hope you sacrifice little pleasures for the sake of this world. I hope you go out and feed the hungry. I hope you go to the streets and pick up garbage that isn’t yours just for the sake of cleaning the environment. I hope you be kind to strangers. I hope you stop bullying. I hope you do what’s right... not what’s easy. I hope you start with yourself, look at this world, and make a change.

So what is it going to be?

Be afraid of being different from them all, or try standing up to make a difference?

It’s your choice. It always has been.

Choose well.