Spoken Word on the state of the world

By Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ, & Director, CREDI
Visit rcsocialjusticett.org for our columns, media releases and more.

CCSJ and the Youth Commission are pleased to share with you the contribution of the 2^nd prize winner of our recent Spoken Word Competition. See last week’s issue for Emmanuel Joseph’s winning piece.

We are the World
by Mark Howell-Paul

This may sound a bit unorthodox
but you don’t realise that cats
does use their litter boxes
but humans don’t?

I’m sorry, but I can’t help but feel bitter
when I see all this litter in the drain instead of the bin;
it’s been bothering me ever since my mother started mothering me.

You see, we have to remember
that we were created from the creation by the creator
so if we not taking care of it
then we not taking care of ourselves
and we not taking care of our Creator.

We are the earth.
We Christians love to sing that song,
“I am the vine and you are the branches!”.
We are the branches of the trees that house the birds of the air.
But we don’t seem to care
because we cut our arms
which are supposed to be extended
to give alms to the poor
and instead of giving shelter
to those running helter-skelter in Barrackpore,
we build homes for ourselves.

We are the wind.
We Christians love to sing that song,
“This is the air I breathe!”.
Is polluted air really what you allow to pass through your nostrils?
I’m getting chills just thinking about it.
It’s so sad that we regard every breath of God
which gave us life doesn’t seem to be sustainable enough,
so we substitute it for machines
that pollute and refute His very essence,
forgetting that it’s essential.”

We are fire.
We as Christians love to sing that song, “Fire, fire, fire, fire fall on us!”.
This fire is meant for us to use it for good,
but we like to play with it.
If yuh play with fire…yuh gonna get burn.
I feel a deep burning inside
when I see the forests being burned down
in order for foreign contractors
to develop unnecessary malls and stalls and halls and walls
all because we use our fire for the wrong purpose.

We are water.
We as Christians love to sing that song, “Springs of living water!”.
Well, you can’t come to this well if it is…well…polluted.
This living water not supposed to have dead fish.
I wish we were not so selfish!
Our bodies are 75 per cent water but we focus on our 25 per cent.
We spill our fill of oil in the water,
not realizing that it doh mix
but we does catch kix
and cook with more oil than water
so we get unhealthy and rotten just like the fish we kill.

We are elements of nature.
We have to nurture it.
We can’t ignore the fact that we are connected.
The 5^th commandment tells us to honour our father and mother.
So we have a duty honour
and take care of our father God and our Mother Earth.