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As countless fellow human beings suffer terribly in a myriad of ways, and much of our planet groans from gaping human induced wounds, our government, other governments, and many well-off people, seem to hardly care. It is what Pope Francis calls a “globalization of indifference.”
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Last year was a rough one in many ways. President Donald Trump’s and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s exchange of insults and violent threatening language put the world on edge that nuclear war was, and still is, quite possible.
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If someone’s house was on fire, would you pour gasoline on it? Well, the answer is obvious: Of course you wouldn’t.
Yet that is very similar to what the United States and many other more economically developed nations are doing.
Despite the tragic fact that approximately 40 current armed conflicts worldwide are causing over 150,000 deaths annually, countless serious injuries, untold destruction, and 28,300 people per day fleeing from their homes, many of the wealthiest countries continue to pour flammable weapons into these volatile conflicts. And the U.S. is leading the pack. (see: http://bit.ly/2ufpP5Y).
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It’s that special time of the year again when kids start heading back to school. And for those who have discovered the fun of learning, school is an adventure!
But for millions of working children worldwide, the adventures of a new school year remain but a dream. Sadly, these children will never learn to read or write. They will not acquire computer skills. They will not experience singing in chorus, going on field trips, or playing at recess.
Their classrooms will be sweatshops, farm fields, and battlefields. Their days will be filled with long, dirty, dangerous work. And the lesson they will learn is that life is cruel and unfair. |
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If someone’s house was on fire, would you pour gasoline on it? Well, the answer is obvious: Of course you wouldn’t. Yet that is very similar to what the United States and many other more economically developed nations are doing.
Despite the tragic fact that approximately 40 current armed conflicts worldwide are causing over 150,000 deaths annually, countless serious injuries, untold destruction, and 28,300 people per day fleeing from their homes, many of the wealthiest countries continue to pour flammable weapons into these volatile conflicts. And the U.S. is leading the pack (see: http://bit.ly/2ufpP5Y).
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“A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system,” warns Pope Francis in his landmark environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”).
Indeed, the scientific consensus is very solid. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities.” (see: http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consen us/).
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People are beginning to starve to death in South Sudan. The United Nations has formally declared that a state of famine exists in this east African nation, with 100,000 people immediately facing starvation, and one million additional South Sudanese teetering on the brink of famine.
“Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive,” said Food and Agriculture Organization representative in South Sudan, Serge Tissot.
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People are beginning to starve to death in South Sudan. The United Nations has formally declared that a state of famine exists in this east African nation, with 100,000 people immediately facing starvation, and one million additional South Sudanese teetering on the brink of famine.
“Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive,” said Food and Agriculture Organization representative in South Sudan, Serge Tissot.
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What a sight! Over 25 times from the top of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., I have seen a sea of people marching to proclaim the dignity of unborn human life, and how death-dealing abortion sends the unholy message that some human beings are disposable.
As I write, I am a just one day away from marching with and viewing that sea of people once again. It’s always a moral and spiritual shot-in-the-arm for me.
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During this wonderful time of the year, when Christians throughout the world focus minds and hearts on the coming of God himself upon the earth as one of us, our attention naturally turns to the place where the incarnation occurred.
While all the earth is a holy creation of the Almighty, Bethlehem and the surrounding lands that Jesus walked upon, taught upon, miraculously acted upon, suffered and died upon, and gloriously resurrected upon is uniquely holy, and thus deserving of the title Holy Land.
In the Holy Land, the Prince of Peace taught humanity the way to true peace.
