Seeing

So many of the things I read these days make me think that there's something rotten at the heart of this pinnacle of human advancement--the time in which we live. It seems that so many people are being left behind but we aren't able to see it for all the new cars, big homes, lattes and high definition televisions.

I see walls and barbed wire. So many walls keeping us apart. Bulletproof cars driven past cardboard homes. CCTV following you from step to step. And such violence against anyone different from the majority. And illness and malnutrition. Some blessed, many cursed and unworthy.

Is this new? I think that maybe it's always been this way except for this brief period in the twentieth century when there was so much energy available that you could even take care of the meek and poor, like Jesus commanded. But all along the rich had everything under control; the poor got some scraps and that kept them quiet. But now energy is becoming more scarce and the rich (including ourselves dear middle class Canadians) aren't willing to give up any of their stuff or their power to ensure that each human has a safe, healthy and free life.

There is enough to go around. Just not the will to share and not take any more than we need. Do you really need all that new stuff? I know I don't.

Therefore the walls and barbed wire. And the violence. Train bombs in Mumbai and soon after blood in the streets; dirty Muslim blood spilled by righteous Hindus. Students in St Petersburg murdered for the crime of being black. Torture for security. The list goes on.

How many times have I thought that humans are unworthy of being the stewards of this wonderful planet? Yet hang in there. We might just yet make it if we stop to think about where we're going.