How do we start to
even imagine the desperation of our sisters and brothers from across the
oceans, from across the continents, who seek to get themselves and their
children away from wars, and away from those that would do them great harm? How
do we respond? How do we truly respond? The truth is we respond badly, we
cannot deny this because the death toll speaks for itself. We respond so often
by just looking away or by tutting at the TV when we see so many people crowded
into boats screaming for help and shouting at those trying to save them.
Perhaps we even fall for the line that some politicians spin that it is their
own fault for getting themselves into that predicament in the first place particularly
those dashing to get onto trains and Lorries heading for Great Britain. Yet we
choose to forget sometimes the great evil that they have faced and now run away
from. Of course no can be allowed to threaten a driver with a violence that is
not right at all. But the truth is the world is looking in the opposite
direction when hundreds and thousands of people are dying day by day in boats
and on land as they try so desperately to just find a life that they can lead
in safety. Not even a life of great wealth not necessarily a life with the TV
in a big house; just a life of safety is all they want.
This must stop these
are our sisters and our brothers we cannot look away! We can no longer think
that it is somebody else's problem! It
is not it is ours. Yours and mine.
This morning as I
watched the TV it reported that thousands of people had died in boats that had
sunk or that they had been crammed into, and then that seventy one bodies
have been discovered in a lorry in Austria. These were people being smuggled
through the continent. Yet the biggest story seemed to be the stock markets and
how much money two men who were investing in stocks and shares had made or lost
this week; there was of course the other
big story about how one cooks beef burgers. We have it so badly wrong; so very
very badly wrong. This is our problem. It is our problem, I cannot restate that
enough. We must remind our MP’s constantly, we must lobby them all of the time
that these people are us! There is no difference, the only differences is where
they were born. They may have a different language, a different colour to their
skin, but why should this separate them from us; this is just a convenience, a
convenience for us, for humankind which has always been a opportunity that we
have exploited so that some can get richer while others get poorer, some live
and while some others will die. Well this must end.
Today I light a
candle it may seem a small gesture but I light it in prayer and prayer is never
small gesture! I light it for each one of those that have died because they are
my brothers and my sisters, they are my father's and my mother's, they are my
sons and my daughters; though I will never know them in this life I love them
truly! And live with a heart that is breaking, and therefore I will keep this
light burning and it will burn always, always until we get it right. We may only
get it right when we learn to be true human’s true humanity.
When Christ was on
the cross when he was there dying, he turned to one of the prisoners being
crucified with him, though this man had failed in life Christ said today you
will be with me in Paradise for that man was his brother. If Christ can reach
out if he can do that, so can I, so can you. And so can our governments and it
is up to you and me to force our government to take action now, not tomorrow,
now. We must save lives today.
Let us also all light
a candle say a prayer, or just stop and think for a moment, about those who
need us right now. Let us all lobby our MPs and our governments and let us the
people save the people, let us stand tall and rescue ourselves, because we
never know when we too may be in a situation when we are the ones at sea.
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