Cine sunt eu? [Who am I?]

The Slaughter [Măcelul]

Many months after Christmas, there were still many traces of a massive slaughter that had taken place in Bucharest around what is essentially a celebration of life – Christ’s birth.

Undoubtedly, the same happened in other capitals of the ‘civilised world’, although I bet they are better at covering up such crime scenes.

Every one or two little streets or every 400-500 meters on a large boulevard, there was such a tree corpse to be found, lying obscenely near garbage bins.

The images are just saddneing, not shocking. There was no blood, no stench of death, and surely no mourners around them. Nobody cared.

And how should anyone care, in a city immune to caring about the cohorts of beggars, stray dogs, lousy political leaders and so on?

Generally speaking, we’re not used to caring about anything else, but our senseless worries and hedonist aspirations in Bucharest. Maybe it’s the same everywhere else.

There’s no way that I could claim to be better than others for having decorated a plastic made-in-China Christmas tree…

What I feel the urge to confess is that the photoholic I simply couldn’t pass by these slain trees and not take pics of them.

Far from being a hysteric ecologist, I can’t help feeling the noose of progress tightening around my neck as I watch them.

Like any slaughters of such scale (including the industrial killing animals for human consumption) this is another token of the progressive world we live in.

I wonder if for people living some 100-150 years ago – before this tradition became a worldwide commercial success – it made any sense to cut so many trees.

Just for fun. Just for the sake of making Christmas more enjoyable. It’s but a sacrifice on the altar of a ‘Christmas spirit’ which has nothing to do with Christ.

Like almost everything else during the contemporary consumerist Winter Holidays Season that hasn’t got anything to do with Him.

Well, I’d rather refrain from invoking religious reasons for taking action against the killling of trees for Christmas.

Sadly enough, they are present in many Othodox churches, along other so-called churches, shopping malls, public institutions, big and small firms, and homes.

It’s just that – be it from an ecological or just ethical perspective – I dislike this waste of tree life. Why should so many trees be chopped?

Who can correctly anticipate the volume of sales and guaranteee that there won’t be millions of trees cut worlwide, but remain unsold for Christmas?

Is there any environmentally friendly and economically sound solution for disposing of these trees and possibly turning them into something useful?

Indeed, big trees from city squares can be turned into something useful. But what about the countless little ones like those noticed by me throughout Bucharest?

They aren’t good for furniture, probably not for fuel either, nor for making paper. So what could be done with them?

As long as we were forced to use ecological light bulbs, why shouldn’t sellers and buyers be compelled to trade exclusively trees grown in Christmas tree farms?

I’d make cutting Christmas trees from forests (irrespective of who owns the forest), selling and buying them a serious crime, punishable by severe fines and/or imprisonment.

If the price of farmed Christmas trees skyrocketed, would that be a problem? More tree farms would mean more competition.

Such a restriction will be a boost for those manufacturing ecological Christmas trees, as I’d also forbdid unrecyclable plastic trees. Would anyone agree with me?

[For all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

Ajutorul nepreţuit nu costă mai mult decât un mic act de voinţă... [Priceless help doesn’t cost more than a little act of will...]

Celor care vor să facă o faptă bună înainte de Sfintele Paşti, celor care vor să se bucure de salutul Hristos a înviat! ştiind că a adus o mică bucurie altora, le recomand din toată inima să intre pe acest website: Milostenie.ro.

Nu (numai) în pagini de cărţi SF, nici pe Discovery Channel, nici în colţuri îndepărtate din Africa ori din Asia se află nebănuite lumi paralele, ci chiar lângă noi – în Bucureşti  şi în atât de multe alte locuri din România.

Lumi în care toate cele pe care le numim probleme, plângându-ne unii altora de ele, capătă proporţia ridicolă a unor mofturi faţă de cei care au adevărate necazuri şi adevărate dureri.

Pe Milostenie.ro  găsiţi diferite poveşti ale unor semeni de-ai noştri care se luptă cu boli chinuitoare, grele lipsuri materiale, excluziune socială, poartă crucea unor dizabilităţi sau chiar suferă de... foame. 

Prea adesea ne comportăm ca-n vorba românească “sătulul nu crede la flămând” sau precum în Pilda bogatului nemilostiv (al cărui nume nu mai are parte de veşnică pomenire!) şi a săracului Lazăr...

Cum ar fi să ne luăm mâinile de pe ochi şi de pe urechi, pricepând că putem face un bine cu prea puţin? Orice prea mică jertfă de bani şi de timp pentru a le trimite câte ceva acestor oameni poate însemna foarte mult pentru ei!

Cine – dintre cei cu acces la net, care citesc aceste rânduri – nu are nici aceşti prea puţini bani sau prea puţin timp la dispoziţie, astfel încât chiar să nu poată face nimic?

Oricine ar putea măcar să-şi noteze câteva nume ale acestor oameni aflaţi în nevoie şi să se roage pentru ei. Ori să dea forward (inclusiv pe narcisistul Facebook!) la povestea lor către cineva care ar putea avea mai multe posibilităţi să acorde un ajutor.

Numai 10 lei trimişi unei familii pot însemna 10 pâini. Sau vreo 3-4 iaurturi. Sau vreo 2 kg de mere. Sau o părticică din cheltuiala cu facturile curente. Sau ar acoperi costul a 1-2 pastile pastile dintr-un tratament vital.

Ca să nu mai zic că lucruri care nouă ne sunt inutile, dar care sunt în bună stare (să nu jignim pe nimeni trimiţând vechituri infecte!) se află în fiecare casă. Să încercăm să ajutăm cumva!

...desigur, aşa cum ne îndeamnă Mântuitorul, “fără să ştie stânga ce face dreapta ta”.

[Pentru toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la/For all the posts on this blog go to: Contents/Cuprins]