Just over a century ago, reading a book was a privilege for very few people: few knew how to read, and even fewer could afford the luxury of stopping to read. Over the decades, things have changed so much that, today, reading is no longer a luxury; even those who cannot buy a book can always take advantage of the services of the public library. But, how can reading a book today make a difference?

Readers know that reading takes time and patience. This last quality seems to me to be precious in our present, which is focused on instant gratification and moving quickly rather than relaxation. It seems that our young people do not read, and, if they do, it is only because they are forced by their school. In this, I see a big problem for our society.

Reading not only educates us in a sense of beauty (because we learn to choose what we like and to justify it by comparing reading experiences), it pushes us to make discoveries and to trust the judgment of others who recommend a good book to us.

Said in these terms, it may seem that reading is now an activity for a few, but I don't think this is the case! We live in a time with the maximal expansion of communication, where everything can be transformed into images or text. We are all changed by this new culture, but only literary skills are valued in school systems. What about the rampant passion among the new generations for music (of any genre) or the natural ability with which these new generations manage images, videos, and texts? All readers, whether in a traditional way or not, are affected by this, but, today, reading still holds the recipe to teach patience, a virtue that I consider essential for a happy life. Patience allows us to evaluate and enjoy our time fully and all that is in it. Thanks to it, we feel alive.

If reading trains this type of patience by teaching us to proceed page after page, to read all the pages, lines, and words because they are all important, then those who are more well-trained must transmit this virtue. I don't think this should be done by forcing our younger people to read but by getting closer to the worlds that younger people experience. This can be done by patiently asking them what they listen to, what they watch, and why they like one song and not another, without the pedantic judgment of those who consider everything inferior and without the fear of discovering new, hidden, or dangerous things that we want to keep away from young people. In this conversation with a young person, it is important to maintain the joy of entering a new world that has much to offer, which excites those who have made it their own, exactly how it thrills and encompasses those who cannot do without the books of J.K. Rowling or J.R.R. Tolkien.

The possibility of reading in the last century brought with it wealth, emancipation, and freedom; in this transition from a book society to a multimedia society, there are certainly riches waiting for us: we readers have the task of accompanying the younger ones into this world by delivering what we have learned in the act of reading.

I may not travel frequently, but, for some years now, every time I take a plane and fly over the Tyrrhenian Sea, I notice that there is something different. The sea is no longer just an expanse of various shades of blue; here and there, year after year, it is becoming a polka-dot blue. But, what are these dots emerging from the blue? It is hard to tell from above, but it is plastic pollution. Of course, you do not see a large island, as it has been forming for years in the Pacific Ocean (Pacific trash vortex), but the pollution is there to see.

In Italy, environmental issues are becoming a political issue, and this is undoubtedly a good thing because politics is that human art which aims to regulate everyday life and to solve the problems that living together inevitably brings out. However, from a political theme, it has increasingly become an ideological one; I’ll try to explain myself: constantly in the Italian media, there are news reports that swing from apocalyptic alarmism (if you do not recycle paper, you are guilty of the destruction of humanity) to denial of pollution (there is no pollution, and, if there is, it is not a problem). Unfortunately, scientific data speaks for itself and tells us that microplastics are so widespread that they are even present in the food we eat. The growing unease that I feel is that talking about the environment today in Italy seems to mean that you side with a political party and, for this reason, automatically accept all the ideas of that same party in a process of militant simplification.

The problem that confronts me as a Christian is an environmental issue that arises when looking out the window of an airplane, waiting for the rain to stop without causing damage (in the spring, there were heavy rains that caused floods and landslides in the area of Romagna), or eating food that is contaminated to the point of making us ill. These are not the problems of political affiliation, but they challenge my belief-based conscience.

Taking care of creation is not an action of the right or left, but it is the invitation that the Creator addresses to us every day. In Genesis 2:15, we are invited to protect creation: by working, transforming it, and benefiting from its riches. However, preserving does not only mean consuming but also being responsible because the world is a gift that has been given to us together with the gift of our very lives. Taking care of the environment, then, is not an act that expresses my political beliefs, but it expresses the grateful response to the only Creator God who wants me to use His gift to live and to protect it for the good of our brothers and sisters.

Standing in contrast to the Christian perspective that supports the present’s needs while taking responsibility for the future is a path that some philosophers have begun to propose called “effective altruism.” This is a current philosophical movement that also seems to take care of environmental problems efficiently but, in fact, in the name of another ideology, is not willing to consider people's present needs with a view to a future good. Let us look after creation as the Creator calls us to do.