We can be a very insular and possessive people,
as we guard our borders and boundaries.
We don’t like people or animals taking short cuts across our land and we
so often take steps to guard against it.
It doesn’t matter if we are talking
about our own little plot of land on which our homes are built or the national
boundaries where steps are taken to keep out the so-called undesirables.
They may be from
many different backgrounds or ethnic groups, but just in case they are
terrorists, from a war-torn zone or are trying to escape plague, famine or
political persecution, many borders are closed to them.
Humanity can be
very hard on those who are in need of a helping hand and political leaders
often play on the fears of their people in drumming up hatred and dark stories,
whether true or false, against groups of people that they have singled out as
the enemy.
Countries are
sent to war often over trifles if that nation has something another nation
wants and decides it must have. Scare
stories are common enough and much of the national income is spent on
developing killing machines to suit all occasions.
If you were to
stop and talk to people, you would find that most people all want the same
things, to live and trade in peace and harmony with each other. Too often the people of the aggressive
nations keep their people in ignorance of the real state of relations between
them and their neighbours, although it is the people that have to make the
sacrifices in blood and their own standards of living.
We do not come to
condemn countries and their leaders, but ask them to think what they are doing
and to find political and honest discussions rather than the large scale
massacres of the innocent.
It is rarely the
perpetrators of bloody war and aggression that have to pay the price. It is the people, whose homes are destroyed. Their family members are killed and the
infrastructure of their nation destroyed or allowed to fall into disrepair.
It is the innocent
who pay the greatest price, as the women and children carry the burdens of
shattered lives and scars that will never be healed because of the traumas that
they have undergone through no fault of their own, except that they happened to
be there.
It is the disease
and suffering that often kills more than the bullets and yet we allow it to
continue believing it can never happen to us, but our lives are saved and we
would rather that the refugees went anywhere else than into our own lives and
countries.
It is to those
nations that have wealth that the homeless look to for help and a new
life. They ask to be allowed to work for
their living and make a home for their families and live without prejudice in
peace and harmony.
From the very
beginning, the strong came to try and wipe out the indigenous peoples who were
already there and take over their land and possessions. Today most countries are a mixture of races
and cultures that have had to learn to live side by side without aggression or
prejudice for the greater good.
However there are
still areas of the world where prejudice is allowed to rule the minds of the
people and there is even talk of building walls to try to keep undesirables out
or is it to keep the so called desirables in?
It is becoming a
trend all over the world for customs officials to ban the entry of unwanted
souls and free travel between nations fails to accomplish the desirable effects
to bring opportunities for the benefit of all concerned.
When Mankind
starts to make positive thoughts towards the future and to remove the greed and
corruption that eats into the decision makers all around the world, they will
not be allowed to only think about their own needs, but to see the effect that
they have of others.
John Kennedy spoke
those true and mortal words that all should heed. “Ask
not what your country can do for you.
Ask what you can do for your country.” These words should inspire those that
shoulder responsibilities and lead us all to a better pathway.
We have been
urged by the Christ of all people to love our neighbours and yet so many do so
little. We are too frightened to step
out on the road of life, where there are so many different traps to ensnare us.
We all need to
help those around us or how will we ever receive the help that we need when we
call out for it? If we continue to allow
for aggression and destruction to happen to our neighbours in our name then
that is the legacy that we will receive back again.
Many souls only
see their own sides of the truth and few explore to make goodness a priority
for all in their lives and so many will go emptyhanded into the next life and
be shocked about how little they did when they had the chance.
Jenny and Michael Ayers
Saturday, 4th February 2017
