With a pair of glasses perched on her nose, my 82-year-old patient was going over the day’s newspapers. As soon as she saw me, she threw the paper on the bed and exclaimed, “Every paper I take is about the Triple T - Trump, tariffs, and Tesla. It’s all about wars, economic crises, protests, and boycotts - it’s really hard to come across happy news these days. What do these people want? I wonder what it will take for humanity to realize that ‘eye for an eye’ is not a viable strategy in an increasingly interconnected world.”

Her observation was not from a simple cause-and-effect perspective or what some may call reciprocity. She was pointing at something deeper - the relentless cycle of retaliation, a revengeful fight that creates volatile situations, breeds animosity, and pulls us into a self-destructive struggle against one another.

If you don’t read newspapers, maybe you watch the news on TV or scroll through headlines online. Perhaps you, too, wonder if there’s an end to this.

The Holy Bible offers a different perspective - one that shifts the focus from fighting against each other to taking responsibility for what God has entrusted to us. God calls us to be responsible stewards of His creation. That means not only taking care of the earth but also taking care of one another.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Genesis 2:15)

We were never meant to be destroyers, but caretakers - of the world, of our communities, and of each other. Instead of waging wars - whether on a global scale or in our daily interactions - God calls us to love, to heal, to extend a helping hand, to be merciful, kind, and forgiving. If only we could remember that with rights and privileges also come responsibilities, we might begin to see the world differently. We might recognize that our calling is not to harm, but to care, to protect, and to love.

So, let’s choose kindness over conflict, compassion over indifference, and responsibility over neglect. In this world of strife, let us stand as peacemakers, as caretakers of what God has given us.

Let’s pray:

Lord, forgive us for often forgetting who’s who, who the Creator is and who the creatures are. Help us remain steadfast in our calling and responsibility to care for what You have entrusted to us, with love, mercy, and a spirit of peace. Amen.