7th April:
World Health Day
World Health Day is celebrated on 7th April to create health awareness world over. The first World Health Assembly was held in 1948 and the first one was celebrated in 1950. The WHD is part of one of eleven world-wide health campaigns. It is also one of the SDGs proposed by the UNO. The WHO sponsors and organizes events and the programme of the day in collaboration with other related organizations. The theme of the current year is: Our Planet Our Health.
Promotion of good health is founded on a number of premises. Here are some of them: Life is a gift and it must be cherished and nurtured. God has given us life and he desires that we live to the full. A life does not belong to an individual; it belongs to a family and society. One life is at the service of other lives.
Health is a composite reality. When we think of health, we do not limit ourselves to the idea of bodily health alone. Further, health is not only about prevention or eradication of diseases. Rather, it entails total well-being of a human person. Therefore, good health is a fruit of healthy mind, heart, body and soul. In addition, environment, life-style, diet, etc., affect one’s health.
Hence, a health education programme cannot be reduced to just physical well-being resulting from sports, physical exercises and a dieting schedule. Our health education curriculum should promote an integral wellness of mind, body, heart and spirit, augmented by a disciplined and healthy life style consisting of food habits, sleeping habits, physical activities etc.
In his world-famous book The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari, Robin Sharma, a renowned motivational speaker and writer, proposes “Ten Rituals of Radiant Living”: (1) The Ritual of Early Awakening; (2) The Ritual of Solitude; (3) The Ritual of Physicality; (4) The Ritual of Live Nourishment; (5) The Ritual of Abundant Knowledge; (6) The Ritual of Personal Reflection; (7) The Ritual of Music; (8) The Ritual of Spoken Word; (9) The Ritual of Congruent Character; (10) The Ritual of Simplicity.
The practice of these rituals could be highly beneficial for a radiant living.
22nd April:
Earth Day
Earth day is celebrated on 22nd April, Spring Equinox, to mark the modern environment movement begun in 1970 in USA. It is also known as International Mother Earth Day. The aim of the anniversary is to draw the attention of the world toward the environment and raise awareness about the threats to its well-being from air pollution and climate change.
The deteriorating condition of our “common home” demands high courage to protect, preserve and replenish it for the sake of all the living beings on the earth. Therefore, the theme of Earth Day 2022 is “Invest in our Planet.”
What do we invest to save our planet? Should we invest political will and power, money, collective actions at the local, national and international arenas? Yes, we should. But, more importantly, we need to invest our mind, heart, will and spirit. Without these investments, political, social and common investment is hard to arrive at.
Let me share two examples:
Sneha Shahi, nineteen-year-old girl, is a PhD student at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru. She is studying Conservation Science and Sustainability. As a water conservationist, she works to prevent single use of plastic materials that fill the water bodies in India. Thus far she has cleared 700 kilos of plastic waste in Bangalore. Hereby, she has improved the natural habitat of crocodiles. She says, “At the end of the day, enthusiasm for the environment comes from within. A role model can just kindle the flame or help you navigate your way to a certain extent. Your passion matters the most and is the true guiding light.”
Greta Thunberg, 21, a Swedish environmental activist, was deeply affected by the climatic changes when she was barely eight years. She went into depression and suffered multi-psychological disorders. This was the beginning of her passionate and fearless campaign to save the earth. We know about her bold criticism of the world leaders in her famous speech in United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2018. She galvanized the environment movements with her zealous commitment towards environment.
If we desire to inculcate commitment to our earth in our young people, we need to make a shift from an academic approach to an experiential one. The young minds in our schools and colleges must be provided with the experiences of the beauty, marvel, grandeur and mystery of mother earth. That is the beginning of the all investments in our planet.
Fr Shilanand Kerketta SDB
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