'Natura non Facit Sultam'

The title means, “Nature doesn’t jump,” ~Charles Darwin

Now, before you close the blog, and think that I am basing it on heathen ideologies [because Darwin didn’t believe in Jesus] I must explain something; I don’t agree with Darwin’s theories, or his ideas about nature, but this quote might -strangely enough- help me convey my message. Please bear with me…

Right, I would like to share my ideas about responsibilities. But now hold on, what does Charley and nature have to do with responsibilities? Well, I am about to tell you…

Firstly, I must point out, that if we look at nature, we see that each mammal, crustacean, reptile, bird, etc. has one or more responsibilities. Have you noticed? What scientists and biologists call ‘instincts’ are in fact responsibilities upon which their lives depend. Have you seen a bird chick not fed after a few days? Or a lion hungry when a herd of wildebeest stand on their doorstep? Um, no… but why? How? The answer; responsibilities. The parents of the chick have the responsibility to feed the chick, so they scout and forage for food and take it back to the chick. The lions -upon the sight of food- start a hunt, in order to catch dinner. Simple enough, right? But without it, generations will be wiped out. It can be said that responsibility is the backbone of nature and humanity. Without responsibilities, nature will crumble - and so will we. What we view as ‘a bird robotically bringing a worm to his chick’ is what we do when we walk to the fridge to get the bottle of purity to feed a baby… isn’t it? You know that if you don’t feed the baby, he/she will die. Same with nature.

Alright, so ‘natura non facit sulta’ suddenly shapes our perception, doesn’t it? Just as humanity finds food for itself and its descendants, nature does the same. So, “nature doesn’t jump”, can be turned into “responsibility does not jump.” Right?

Let’s think for a second, what responsibilities do we have? Let’s start where we should…

“Ok, first thing on the list… my wife said she made a list for me… oh boy… I have a year’s work to do in a weekend… Lord have mercy…” And then you do it, right?

Responsibility isn’t something to be sought, but it finds us…

I specifically want to address the responsibility to nature in this lesson… Now children, we will look at what God tells us in Genesis 1:28 [KJV]

“And God blessed them [Adam and Eve], and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’ And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat’.”

We have been given the earth. Wow. But, ‘from he who is given much, will be expected much.’ Yes, we have a responsibility over the earth, just as you would have a responsibility to your wife’s to-do list.

Now, I am not trying to infer that you join Greenpeace, start growing your beard, and go all crazy when someone kills a spider, or go all ‘tree-hugger’ and chain yourself to a tree that will be chopped off. No… some people go overboard with certain things. What I am asking, is how do we take care of what God gave us?

“No, I don’t care whether I toss a chips paper out of the window, because everyone else does it, so, one more chips paper won’t kill all the trees. It won’t scratch my back or break my leg.”

We sometimes think like that, right? But just because everyone else does it, does it make littering right? That is part of what scholars call the ‘bandwagon fallacy,’ meaning that just because everyone else does it, it gets justified. Although, the guy has a point, one chips paper won’t kill all the trees. And why do we actually have to worry? What happens, happens as long as it doesn’t happen to you, right? Um, no… what will 7 billion chips papers do to our earth if they aren’t tossed away? What will just 1 million cigarette buds tossed out of car windows do to forestry and grass - not to mention agricultural crops and our food supply? ‘Ignorance is bliss’ suddenly becomes ‘ignorance will kill you,’ doesn’t it? Hasn’t it almost always been like that?

Still not convinced? Well, I guess it is your choice, but, if we live carelessly, polluting rivers, killing our wildlife because we litter everywhere, wasting natural resources till we have nothing, the world we live in today will become the killer of tomorrow. No water… No food… No clean air… and no life…

Carelessness is the child of irresponsibility. And carelessness is the mother of disaster…

I guess if we ask ourselves this question, it will make it easier; did Jesus litter? Well, no records in the Bible specifically speak of littering or not to litter [as far as I know], but can you imagine Jesus tossing a paper out of a car saying, “Aw well, not my problem what happens to this… Or who gets affected by it…” Somehow the picture doesn’t fit…

So what can we do? We can’t stop a man from throwing his papers or cans into a bush. We can’t stop a sea bird from eating a plastic bag in its ignorance and dying from heart failure, or a burst stomach or colon. We can’t save the world, but we can start by doing our part.

But how? Well, walk 5 extra steps to a trash can and throw it away. Encourage your children to do the same. If you feel stronger about littering, Google has many ideas on how to join or start a ‘no-litter-club’ if you wish to do so. Not interested? No problem! If one person just does his/her bit as a responsible ‘no-litterer’, it is one bird saved from heart failure, one tree saved from burning and drifting away in ashes of despair, crying out to the earth and all its inhabitants. One person will make one change, and that is the difference. Even if no one else does the right thing, you do it, and God sees that.

Now, if you feel accused, it means you are guilty… No… I’m just kidding… if you feel accused, I have written the blog a bit wrong, but I have a point to make;

RESPONSIBILITY touches you… whether it is destroying the world of tomorrow, not doing everything on your wife’s checklist, or simply not learning in school. We have been given so much, and remember, “responsibility doesn’t jump.” Our responsibilities stay the same every day when it comes to moral values, eating healthy, not littering, etc. Any compromise in the basics can result in shorter lives, constant problems and bad stuff happening to you, or small things that grow bigger in time to catastrophic proportions…

Nature doesn’t jump, responsibility doesn’t jump, and neither should we.