Compassion

In discussing the disaster in and around Indonesia with several people today I was appalled by their reaction and their comments. These are people that I thought I knew well when in reality I did not know them at all.

“It was only the poor people that died. It was their own fault they should have been educated and making enough money to allow them to live in a better neighborhood unaffected by killer waves.”

How does one respond to an ignorant comment like that, for one not all of the people who were killed were poor. Many tourists were killed as well. Besides it is not as if the people in a lot of these countries chose to be poor. They live in areas with repressed economies and education systems that allow the rich and powerful to succeed at the expense of the less fortunate.

“Not enough Christians live in that part of the world. This disaster was God’s way of warning them to find Jesus or face the consequences.”

Forgive me but if you actually believe that God would punish millions of people with death, destruction and pestilence because they chose a different path to salvation than either you or I need to rethink our concept of God. I for one could not believe in nor follow a God who would punish someone for expressing the free will that he gave them. What about the innocent babies and children who had no choice when they were born? New lives who by the roll of the dice where born into faiths other than Christianity were there deaths punishment also?

“Keep your balance. Do not be concerned about events that happen half way around the world. It is none of your business. Do not even give it a second thought. Do not allow that which you cannot control affect your daily life.”

In discussing the ongoing disaster I happened to mention that if nothing else hearing about events over there made me appreciate those I have around me even more. Having said that the person I was talking to gave me the above comment almost verbatim. They truly believe that what happens in one part of the world should not affect anyone here at all.

I could go on but you get the general idea. Some of the people I know have become to comfortable in the American lifestyle and are in serious need of a wake up call. Most especially since they all live in my general area and we are but a few miles as the crow flies from the San Andres fault. A fault that is a ticking time bomb that could go off at any time, when that happens it will be us and everyone we know who will be on television with that stunned how did I survive look. When that day comes I can only hope that the rest of the world shows them more compassion than they showed the disaster victims today.