This morning whilst shopping I saw Quakers in a silent vigil
declaring on posters that what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki seventy years
ago must never happen again. Whilst
applauding the sentiment I realize that this is a gesture that is likely to fall
on deaf ears. For the heart of man “ is
desperately wicked.” We tend to remember Hitler but forget Pol Pot. We deplore the African slave trade of the
nineteenth century, but forget people are in slavery making our clothes. If we
look full on at the world we see evil on every hand and in order to cope with
this reality we put on blinkers and hide in denial. How often do we hear, “This
must never happen again. I wouldn’t want
anyone to go through this?” But until
man turns back to God in repentance we will hear this phrase over and over
again.
I have written in previous posts about disasters. In the case of Concorde, decisions by people, plus other factors were directly to blame for the event. In the case of the Penlee disaster it may have been avoided if someone had made a better choice in the time beforehand and as a consequence brave men and the ship's crew and the captain and his family died. 9/11 was certainly the result of wicked men committing a terrorist act, but even in this there was heroism notably by another Cornish man, Rick Rescorla who helped many to safety and left it too late to help himself. In situations like this we see what the human spirit is capable of both good and evil. What of disasters that come on people because of the earth restless movement of tectonic plates. Often people live near volcanoes because the land is rich and fertile and they have the chance of a better life there when the volcano is resting. We cannot blame them for that but sometimes people become complacent...
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