Footprints And The Stewardship Of Creation
Listen closely to television news, home and garden, DIY, and crime shows – and ads for technical equipment and garbage bags. Pay attention at work and home. You may be surprised by how often the word “footprint” is used.
A contractor talks about the footprint of a kitchen. The techie at work says to select a printer with a small footprint. Detectives and security experts get a person’s footprint (literally) and can check a perpetrator’s DNA footprint. National security agencies are all over the news because they track a person’s footprint trail via surveillance equipment.
Ecologically speaking, a footprint is a record of what a person uses to sustain life and what waste she leaves behind. Yesterday (off the top of my head), my household footprint included the use of two paper towels, one paper napkin, a reasonable amount of toilet paper (I have a rule about how much should be used), two plastic bags of dog waste, emissions from my small SUV for driving 8.1 miles, one glass bottle, a microwavable popcorn bag and (I hate to admit this) a frozen dinner box. This doesn’t include my share of bandwidth for computer and telephone operations, the electric I used to power my reading lamp and watch the Dodgers game. I am sure there’s much more I can’t think of offhand.
The cost of living is much more than the dollar outlay to purchase consumable and durable products. The production of everything we buy or use, whether it can be seen or not, generates by-products. Some of these emissions may be recyclable into other useful items. Many are not. Unfortunately, the consequences of the living choices we make last much longer than just one generation.
One of the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching is the Stewardship of Creation. It speaks to taking care of the earth, and the many abundant gifts God has given for our use and enjoyment. It speaks to using only what we need – knowing by faith that God always provides. It speaks to a time longer than one, two or three generations. It speaks to a natural environment far beyond what the human eye can see.
We may limit the definition of creation to the natural environment. But it includes other persons as well. In our humanity, our footprints often cause emotional and physical damage. Occasional lapses of patience may cause hurtful words to escape our lips. Anger may prompt a physical person to lash out and harm another. Indifference causes another the pain of feeling insignificant.
Ongoing physical, emotional and verbal abuse may be apparent in families for generations. Children of abuse may exhibit a strong lack of confidence, be unable to concentrate on work or studies, act out the behaviors they experienced in the formative years, and lack the ability to form normal friendships and sustainable relationships.
Several passages in the Bible speak to a simple life, and give direction for sustaining the environment and others. Jesus tells His disciples to take only the sandals on their feet for the journey. We’re ordered, if we have two coats, to give the second to another. Many of the parables and metaphors employ nature – the story of the mustard seed and the vine, and the branches of the tree.
As Catholics, we are responsible for the stewardship of all in our care. This means we prayerfully discern how we treat and use the environment – what, how much, and how we choose to consume. We are also called to protect the human dignity of our family, friends, colleagues and neighbors.
Picture your life from an airplane. Objectively observe what your footprints look like. Are they large? Messy? Harmful? Hurtful? Could they be seen too clearly on the land? Were they visible on someone else? Will generations to follow have to step around your footprints? Or, are you leaving a good trail to follow?
