I just glanced casually, as you do, at this report on the situation in Sri Lanka. As is normal I grasped the gist immediately and got on with my awfully important life. However it struck me that here was a war, and one that has been ongoing for around thirty years, where people are at this very moment being blown apart by shellfire, shot, raped, abused, starved, and caught in the general effects of a crossfire which they are unable to escape. And I just glance at this news and move on.
The picture features a conflict which erupted in 1947 when Britain left the Indians to their own affairs, and quite right too! Straight away there was a Muslim/Hindu split with much violence and Pakistan and West Pakistan (which also splint from Pakistan later, again with much violence). Kashmir, a large state to the north, was ruled by a Maharajah who was left to decide whether to join India or Pakistan. He chose India but most of the population being Muslim conflict, of one level or another, has been continual ever since. Many thousands have died, many more injured or dispossessed, yet little is seen on the news as Iraq and Afghanistan are more important - too us!
World wide, as we sit in comfort, stuffing our fat faces, warm, content for the most part, millions live in war zones. Death is an ever present reality, many suffer the results of loss of home and family, wounds and abuse. The future depends on far off uncaring governments or charitable organisations working in the area, but for how long? While thirty seconds of a news programme is given over to their story it will quickly be followed by more important relevant information, concerning bulimic teenagers or drunken actresses.
I am quite warm this evening, the music playing is cheery, the umpteenth mug of tea has been drunk, and yet somewhere in the world someone is being blown apart, shot or having their throat cut. I, like the rest of the world, think "Oh dear, how awful" then forget them.
"Et lacrimatus est Iesus"
3 comments:
One of the greatest shocks during the process of our Heavenly Father making Himself real to me came from truly understanding that He cared just as much about all of those peoples in far away places as He did about me and my kind. For I had been raised to belive that He loved everyone in the same way, but it was another thing entirely to have Him put it all into perspective for me.
Great post, by the way. Thank you for having the courage to openly express what people like myself naturally feel about others in not only far away places, but also just across the street at times.
Fair play to you Adullamite, it's much easier to wring our hands and lament the state of the world without admitting that we're all just going to go back to our comfortable existences afterwards and scarcely give it another thought thereafter. I include myself very firmly in that.
That's just how it is folks.
Post a Comment