AL ELLEMA

We are all God’s creation and man was given the power to exercise dominion over all creation. Being the highest among all creation, we were given a habitat that is complete and beautiful, a paradise to live for all of mankind and the generations to come. Man was not only given a good place to live in, he was also given free will. As steward of the earth and of all creation, man was given the intellect to be able to exercise and perform the gargantuan task as steward of the earth including all living and non-living things.

It is well revisiting the historical fact in the book of Genesis where man was free to enjoy the fruits of the earth. All plants and animals are at man’s disposal, chiefly for his needs, to nourish his body and soul. It was when our forebears broke God’s commandment not to eat the forbidden fruit that led us to perdition.

Duped by the serpent, our first parents fell from God’s grace. The punishment of excruciating pain for every woman at childbirth and for man to toil by his sweat and blood for him and his family to eat, are passed on until this generation and those yet to come. As early as that condemnation of the original sin, man continues to suffer that punishment.
As man and woman kept God’s commandment to fill the world with children, we started to suffer from scarcity of the natural resources that God gave us to sustain life. We too are able to use our intellect to find ways to increase production of the resources that are needed to sustain our needs, primarily for food and medicines to cure our illnesses and keep us well and healthy.

But while man keeps on discovering solutions to fill the scarcity for food and medicines, all endeavors are outweighed by the effects of greed that affect man’s daily existence. With the scarce resources at hand, the greedy are finding ways to get rich for instance by hoarding, thereby creating a manmade scarcity that causes undue suffering of the people that could not find their basic needs to live decently.

The artificial situation pushes the poor and disadvantaged population to obtain the items at high prices beyond what they could afford. The unjust situation keeps the greedy laughing as the rake in huge profit at the expense of those hapless people in need. What is revolting is the fact that the poor people who suffer from high prices are the very ones who labored with their sweat and blood producing the products that are hoarded by the greedy.
comments to alellema@yahoo.com