Is it because we are powerless do you think? Totally powerless to prevent newborn Chinese babies being dumped on public streets...small boys given lethal weapons they can barely hold, to engage in wars they cannot hope to understand.
Victims of savage and incomprehensible rapes in India...women walking miles each and every day to collect fresh drinking water under a burning sun...girls denied an education and trafficked across continents to be sold to the highest bidder...
Of course all the above has been going on for centuries...in our own civilised countries...from leaving unwanted newborns out on the muck heap in Ireland to boy soldiers armed to the teeth in ancient conflicts...rape has always been a part and parcel of War...from Vietnam to the times of the Crusades and in every war in between.
Denying an education to women is part of our heritage too...when I read the lists of the alumni of the old universities there is not ever a mention of a female...there are plenty of fifteen year old boys going to Law Chambers after gaining their degree...while their sisters stayed at home and spent their days waiting to enter an arranged marriage...with a man they'd never met.
Torture and executions were part and parcel of every- day life...look on-line for the graphic signature of Guy Fawkes...the one before his torture and the one after he'd been subjected to the rack.
We used to hold animals responsible for crimes against humans...there are too many accounts of a pig appearing in court accused of the murder of a child...the sentence was to be hung. Most of those trials were held in France...but it wasn't uncommon in England either...
Old women, who had probably suffered from dementia, were said to be witches and were hanged or burned at the stake...the only morsel of comfort is that the executioner would usually strangle his victim before lighting the fire.
We shot young men at dawn in the First World War because they'd lost their nerve and had gone quite mad...we called it cowardice. Suffering from Trench Foot and deafened from the sounds of guns...living in trenches half full of stinking water and over-run by rats...their undernourished bodies home to lice and fleas...
Then there was the obscenity of the Nazi's and the purge of the Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and Intellectuals...it is said those in power knew about those camps...they didn't exactly collude but they were aware they existed.
Now we are informed...we can read in depth newspaper articles or watch the news on television...we might have neighbours who go to the local Mosque...they seem nice enough people but you can never tell can you...
We have people, who are clearly quite mad, killing young Soldiers in broad daylight in a busy street...in the name of their beliefs. And the brave, who hold the hand of the dying and whisper words of comfort...swearing at the man holding the wicked blade in his bloodied hand.
Why is it we become so desperately sad when we are little better than those who kill and maim...we are no better than them. There is little point in railing over the latest beheading when our civilised countries put people to death with a lethal injection...no point in loathing stoning a young woman to death when we still discriminate against the disabled and take away their benefits...allow homeless people to freeze to death in a doorway...release from secure hospitals those who go on to slaughter their families...close the refuges for battered women through lack of council funding.
If the time should ever come when we can look our own society straight in the eye and declare it perfect...then will be the time to criticise others who lag far behind.
Hi Vashti, Passionate , problem is we are human and imperfect beings so i don't think we can create a perfect society. What we can do is try and make it better and many do. it is clearly wrong that homeless people may still freeze in shop doorways but it is a social wrong of neglect, not wilful stoning and torturing to cause pain and death. I think we can and do feel compassion for the suffering of others , i think we are very aware of the cruelties are imperial past caused but because remain imperfect, we can still try. Love Margaret x in thoughtful mode
Hi I agree with Margaret. Our society is far from perfect but the tortures practised in other countries is still far worse than anything which happens in the Western World.
The truth is like is still a lottery - you pays your money and takes your chances. There have never been any guarantees and never can be. That's the nature of life and of societies which are made up of human and fallible people. x
That is very well put Vashti. The First World War was an obscenity. There was no good reason for it at all. It then led to the Second World War. That could have been prevented or delayed if the stupid politicians had the sense to rearm. Then stayed neutral until they were in a position to effectively fight Hitler.
I have been reading a lot about the Royal Family. The way they treated the Duke of Windsor was appalling. He desperately wanted to do more to help. He was trained and experienced. He could have done a great deal, if only he was allowed to. The Queen Mother put paid to that.
My Grandfather was in a firing squad in WWI. It was a case of do it or be shot yourself. He said a terrified 16 year old boy had to be tied to a kitchen chair.
His crime? "Cowardice in the face of the enemy"
He always said there was no need for the war in the first place.
I do agree with so much you have said Vashti but it still makes me weep with anger and frustration and yes, sadness at the injustice in this world. Too much suffering goes on worldwide but one person can only do their very best to help and cannot take it all on their shoulders. We can all but do our best to care for and about those that suffer. Bless them all and may the powers that be try and right the so many wrongs in all societies.
Hi Vashti, I know atrocities are occurring all over the planet past, present and future but I can hardly bare to watch the news these days, I only put it on for the weather forecast.
None of us are powerless, we can choose thoughts that make us feel at peace with the world and ourselves. I try to find good feeling thoughts , mankind has a lot to be ashamed of but also a lot to be proud of.
Here we are on a planet that's spinning 140,000 miles an hour, the Universe is expanding all the time, our lives are so short here and there isn't time to fix everything before we leave this lifetime, so let's be joyful for the good and the Love..... and for the gift that life is.
What about all the charities that people give money to so that people less well off than themselves can be helped. Lots of charities have been given money by ordinary people to help in Nepal and many volunteers have gone there to help. Whenever there is a major disaster people step in to give to charities to help the people affected. What about all the Foodbanks around the country, a lot of which are organised by churches and also by supermarkets. Many organisations, including churches, run night shelters especially in the winter so that people do not have to sleep on the streets and have a meal. There are so many charities large and small that help people. Most towns have volunteer organisations where volunteers drive people to hospital appointments etc. What about the organisation that runs a ship that goes to the coast of Africa and elsewhere with specialist volunteer doctors and nurses to help the people. There are so many many more examples of how people help others. Most people are good and kind even if they don’t volunteer. We are not powerless; every little act of kindness helps in this world and it has the added benefit of helping us to feel better about ourselves.
Well said sarcoid - there should be no need for food-banks, night shelters etc. but that would be in a perfect world where no-one would fall through the cracks. We have raised £19 million for Nepal - much of it from people who are feeling the pinch. I thank you for enumerating so many of the good things and won't repeat them but remember those who drop in on those elderly neighbours who might need a hand, grand-parents who help so their kids can keep jobs - I'm sure they'd rather put their feet up! My contention has always been that there is infinitely more good in this world than bad - it's just that the devil has better PR. Cheer up all of you, at least we don't regard a public execution as a good day out any more (at least not in the developed world), so let's try to keep it that way - onward andd upward!
Let us not forget the horrors such as wife burning, known as Honour Killings. These vile practices go on behind closed doors of people from other countries with different cultures to ours. Tragic cases of children being tortured to death for being "possessed" by parents or relatives. Remember Victoria Climbie? Tortured and starved to death.
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