"The Globalization of Indifference"

So what? YAWN, yawn!

With all the problems on our little planet these days perhaps it is just less stressful to ignore them and get on with our lives! On the other hand this octogenarian, as hard as I try, is unable to yawn and move on. Thinking about what is happening to so many of my fellow humans, and observing the growing disregard for human life, forces me to examine my own thoughts and reactions to these horrible tragedies. They do not directly affect me, nor is my response of any interest to the victims! But issues do matter to me. And there's the rub! Because what I think and feel, defines just who I am.

For example: early this past week the news sources were full of disastrous episodes occurring in the Mediterranean Sea. Thousands, attempting to enter Europe illegally, were capsizing and drowning from unseaworthy and overcrowded boats or rigid inflatable dinghies. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Renzi's comment, "They are literally trying to find people alive among the dead floating on the water." I paged through comments on the Internet and many were cynical and even antagonistic. Such things as 'everything these poor people are running away from they are bringing with them'; 'just more Muslims to terrorize Europe'; 'escort them back to where they came from'; 'helping them will take our jobs away.' Many of these "irregular migrants" (those without  documentation)  paid the smuggler gangs $2,000 to $5,000 for the promise of a new and better life!

And my thoughts? At first confusing: 'Europe has enough problems they don't need more people to look after' or 'I wonder if we Canadians are prepared for more rusty ships full of refugees landing on our shores in the not too distant future?' 'God, I am happy I was born in Canada'.

Google Images

I remember reading a book, written by Thomas Malthus many years ago. He believed that the growth of a population would always be greater than its ability to feed itself. People reproduced geometrically, he explained, while the food supply increases only arithmetically. Perhaps he was onto something. In 1967 there were 3 billion people on earth, today, only 48 years later, there are 7 billion people on planet Earth! And, according to the World Bank, already one billion people no longer have enough food or safe drinking water! No doubt, poverty, hunger and thirst are one part of the puzzle behind so much human suffering and unrest.

In view of the many crisis situations around the globe it seems pretty picayune for me to be wondering about who I am and what I am doing here!  As a Canadian I can at least vote for those who represent the 'truth' - if I could ever figure out who they are! It is so easy to become inured and indifferent to so much suffering. It becomes a perplexing puzzle I would rather ignore! But if it is true that knowledge comes from experience, then experiencing these human horrors through media coverage, must be teaching me something useful.

 At least I can is be grateful for the long and wonderful life I am living as a Canadian. Certainly, gratitude is one of those elements. I am also becoming aware that what is good in life is more than just the absence of problems. Thomas Merton once wrote, "Happiness is not a matter of intensity but a balance of order, and  rhythm, and harmony". Francis of Assisi expressed it this way, "Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Perhaps the Pope is correct when he describes our collective response to the violence in the world as "the globalization of indifference'. But if as individuals, we can't change the world, at least we can learn to become more grateful and compassionate for what we have received. 

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week

Did you Know?

I started this blog as a challenge to keep me learning and to  have fun. Now I feel guilty because I should be answering your many responses. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me in return.