Skip to main content

Pater Dolorosus


"Mindanaoan" posted this Twitpic of a weeping father cradling his dead daughter in the wake of the tragic floods that sank Cagayan de Oro city as a result of tropical storm Sendong (Washi) last Saturday evening. The little girl I presume is just a wee bit over two years of age. This is the age of temper tantrums and delightful innocence. Those of us who have children will know. The pain of small children taken from us at this age is unfathomable.

And so the photo broke my heart into a million pieces and that too of Mindanaoan. But this is the nightmare that I am waking up to. Environmental catastrophe is now at hand and there are no easy solutions. Whether this be a flash flood (which is the most dangerous of natural hazards) or even the chronic air pollution poisoning Metro Manila, people will die and most tragically children will die.

The photo is reminiscent of Roman Catholic iconography of the Mater Dolorosa or the Sorrowful Mother. Dolorosum (neutral gender) is the Latin adjective for sorrows but the Latin has more gravitas and thus much pain as compared to the English translation. The Sorrowful Mother however especially as seen in Michaelangelo's Pieta (Pity in Italian) is serene since she knows that salvation has been bought by the death of her Son. In three days her Son will destroy death. She knows this since Simeon had foretold this in a prophecy

But not for this Pater dolorosus. Death is all around but where is salvation? In a church or in Malacanang Palace or the Impeachment court?

Roman Catholic tradition lists the Seven Sorrows of Mary and this was a popular medieval devotion which we have somewhat lost. Perhaps we can have the Seven Sorrows of the Philippine Environment

1) Poverty and income inequity
2) Malthusian resource use
3) Mining
4) Loss of the forests, mangroves, reefs and sea grasses
5) Sedimentation
6) Climate change
7) Environmental refugees 

[Note that I do not include overpopulation as bandied by pro RH advocates. The problem lies deeper than that and is really more on the first sorrow. Like the great scientist and biogeographer Alfred Russel Wallace, posited a century ago in contrast to mistaken application of Darwinian theory, simple fertility control is too simplistic a solution to population and environmental issues]

This pater dolorosus has now become part of the 7th sorrow, while the government tries to make cash out of the 3rd sorrow.

As an environmental practitioner, people have asked me so many times and most recently a group of medical doctors "What can we do?"

We can do something but it would entail sacrifice. The Virgin Mary had to undergo her sacrifice for the redemption that came.

There is hope still.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Kung bakit dapat maging wikang pambansa din ang Ingles

Isang kakatwang eksena ang nasaksihan ko sa isang pribabdong opisina kamakailan lang. Dalawang empleyado ang inatasang bigyan ng solusyon ang isang isyu tungkol sa logistics. Ang isa ang tubong Davao at ang isa ay taga Iloilo. Ang unang wika nila ay Cebuano (Bisaya) at Hiligaynon (Ilonggo). Ang dalawang wika ay halos pareho ngunit may mga katagang iba ang kahulugan sa isa't isang wika. Ginamit nila ang wika nilang kinalakihan at hindi sila nagkaintindihan. Ang nangyari tuloy ay gumamit na lang sila ng wikang Ingles! Yung na nga rin ang sabi ko. Mag-English na lang kaya kayo! At bakit di wikang Filipino ang ginamit nila? Sa totoo lang, marami pa rin ang hindi bihasa sa Filipino upang gamitin ito sa mga larangan tulad ng logistics. At hindi lamang sa mga larangang teknikal, sa mga biyahe ko sa ibat-ibat lugar sa Pilipinas, ang mga naka-paskel sa mga CR o palikuran tungkol sa pagtitipid ng tubig ay naka sulat sa 1)Wika ng rehiyon 2) Wikang Ingles 3) at minsa'y sa wikang Filipino S

Simoun's lamp has been lit, finally.. not by one but by the many!

"So often have we been haunted by the spectre of subversion which, with some fostering, has come to be a positive and real being, whose very name steals our serenity and makes us commit the greatest blunders... If before the reality, instead of changing the fear of one is increased, and the confusion of the other is exacerbated, then they must be left in the hands of time..." Dr Jose Rizal "To the Filipino People and their Government" Jose Rizal dominates the Luneta, which is sacred to the Philippine nation as a place of martyrdom. And many perhaps all of those executed in the Luneta, with the exception of the three Filipino secular priests martyred in 1872, have read Rizal's  El Filibusterismo . Dr Rizal's second novel is a darker and more sinister one that its prequel but has much significance across the century and more after it was published for it preaches the need for revolution with caveats,  which are when the time is right and who will in

President Manuel Luis Quezon's Code of Ethics

Being a denizen of Kyusi, in honour of the man who gave my city its name and for being the most colourful prez the Philippines ever had, I have the pleasure to post Manuel L Quezon's Code of Ethics on his birthday. Let us profit from the wisdom of the Kastila. 1. Have Faith in the Divine Providence that guides the destinies of men and nations. 2. Love your country for it is the home of your people, the seat of your affection and the source of your happiness and well-being. It's defense is your primary duty. Be ready to sacrifice and die for it if necessary. 3. Respect the Constitution which is the expression of your sovereign will. The government is your government. It has been established for your safety and welfare. Obey the laws and see that they are observed by all and that public officials comply with their duties. 4. Pay your taxes willingly and promptly. Citizenship implies not only rights but obligations. 5. Safeguard the purity of suffrage and abide by the decisions of