The world is
broken. Split down the middle of its whole structure of existence. Civilization
wobbles on cracked limbs leaving it basically immobile and infirm.
The Ebola
virus threatens West Africa and potentially all of us. The mulish ignorance and
superstition, the wretched poverty and corruption of human life there invites
indifference to all the simple protections against deadly diseases. The virus
there spreads and kills because of human neglect, illiteracy, and obstinate religious
cultism and bizarre myths. It destroys life because of the political
indifference of the countries themselves and of the rest of the world toward
them.
Syria, Iraq,
and Afghanistan all remain locked in some horrendous blood bath that leaves the
rest of us weary with it all. The politics and religious fanaticism involved in
that mess of cultures is beyond any rational unraveling. The political
corruption, the insane inhuman greed fed by these wars, the waste of life,
theirs and of our soldiers, the mindless exhaustion of resources—financial and
otherwise, and the arrogance of killing for killing’s sake without any
seemingly clear sense of the moral or human consequences is simply staggering.
There is
Israel and Gaza, the Jews and the Palestinians. I have no answers left for that
scene of sadistic cruelty. They are not interested in answers; only in hate and
revenge. Israel listens to no one. Its political and military leaders have
convinced themselves it’s perfectly fine to slaughter civilians, even children,
in the name of some aberrant form of justice they have concocted within their
minds. I will not be convinced by their threadbare arguments, their high and
mighty stance of righteousness. Their actions violate every moral value of
humanity. Their endless bombing of schools, homes, Mosques, hospitals, UN
facilities, even the Gaza Center for the Disabled, profanes their great
historic religion. Judaism is now stained in the blood of the innocent. Great
biblical truths which for centuries have served the world with wisdom and spiritual
guidance are now belittled and rendered useless by the crude violence of a once
great people. I understand the points made against Hamas. I’m aware of the evil
it has perpetrated. But there is no convincing me that what Israel thinks it is
doing to Hamas has any meaning or purpose given the human toll it has cost.
None. No justifying statements will move me. The leadership of Israel won’t
even listen to its own people, many of whom are disgraced by the carnage exacted
on the Palestinian people. And what is the goal here? I have no idea. Nor do
the Israeli leaders. They are out of ideas. They have no imagination with which
to deal with their enemy. And now they have no moral authority left. They have emptied
their moral resources on the lives of the Palestinians.
And here at
home, the shamelessness of our political leaders borders on the criminal. This
childish, deranged partisanship in Congress, these pathetic divisions within
our country that keep us caught in some vicious rage, are degrading and
demeaning. I keep looking for the brains in this country to step up and show us
the way. So far they remain silent. I thought for sure we would hear from
intelligent religious leaders, from men and women with conscience and heart,
educated people with ideas and brilliance who could guide us into sensible
solutions, help us return to the values that made us pioneers and explorers,
truth seekers and learners, people with dreams not just for ourselves but
dreams that would lift others out of terrible circumstances, dreams bathed in some
splendid new discovery, dreams for peace and human cooperation, dreams
dedicated to the advancement of all humankind. Instead, we wade through the
muck of piggishness, greedy excess, self-bluster, disdain for anyone not like
us, hate brimming with evil, indifference to violence, and the exaltation of
force of brutality of stupidity.
There was a sketch some years ago of Steve Martin mocking the
phony politeness of people in Los Angeles. A line of people waited their turn
to withdraw cash from an ATM machine, while a line of armed robbers waited
their turn in a separate line to politely ask for and steal each person’s
money.
The absurdity of that spectacle seems to be where we are
today. Why are we not all outraged at the brokenness of our world? Why do we
maintain this polite tolerance of the depraved ideas and the calamitous threats to the body and soul of our human existence?
© 2014 Timothy Moody
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