Hear we go again with another hurricane season with its eventual spawning of a monstrous beast. Wherever this thing hits it is going to be another sad disastrous mess. And once again this will be another message from a very angry Mother Nature highlighting the misplaced priorities of the human race. We spend too much time and money in an attempt to protect ourselves from those who are different. Too many resources or wasted on selfish needs while those in dire straights are ignored or worse yet used for our own purposes.Sometimes we get together for short periods of time to make ourselves feel better and look better by giving what is in most cases inadequate aid to those in the worst situations. At the same time though we’re using the third world as a plaything for our own economic and political needs. The developed nations have all played a role.
It wasn’t long ago when Kashmir and the surrounding region were suffering greatly from a severe earthquake. I find it interesting that this place was worth risking nuclear war over. Millions were spent by two impoverished countries willing to wage war to the point of enveloping each other in a nuclear fireball over land coveted by both.
The greatest menace to the area ended up coming from an ‘act of God’. Nooooo, though it’s a tempting avenue of explanation and exploitation I’m not blaming the Lord. This has always been a seismically active region. What I am blaming is a human weakness for power, fear, hate and violence.
I know if there were perfect love and lions and sheep were cohabiting all over the place this disaster still would have happened. But what could have been different was the way the world would have been able to react. Far too much effort is expended on military preparations and adventurism around the world. In the United States our glowing example of this was when our response to hurricane Katrina was greatly hampered by the war in Iraq.
If we spent a lot more time trying to understand each other rather than feeding our fear, power lust and greed we would all be more prepared to react to these repeated scenes of desperation. The international communications within the United Nations is still the best avenue for keeping this hope alive. The conservatives within the US in their foolish arrogance would love to not only withdraw from this institution but would love to see it die.
The gluttonous arms industry, which fuels so many conflicts in the third world, also needs to be decimated and what little piece of it that is left must be highly regulated by strict international oversight. It’s true we can all do a lot better with how we react to each other in the world. It all depends on what we allow to dwell in our hearts.
God’s anger with the United States must be great since He hears the cry of the poor and oppressed. We waste billions flooding the world with immoral misadventures. The wealthiest nation in the world could do much to alleviate suffering but instead we choose to use our military might and money to make the world safe for big business. The neoconservative dominated Republican Party has infected us with a little dream centered on our own selfish desires while having the gall to claim we are the greatest Christian nation doing the work of God. Our irrational fear and popular culture driven wanton ignorance has caused half our populace to shamefully follow blindly behind.
We can do better if we really embrace the love God wants us to have for each other. These natural disasters have illustrated just how inadequate our love for each other really is.
