WHERE THERE IS NO VISION……
There is a good deal of optimism among many that somehow God will intervene and change the system of things, but they fail to understand that man without God cannot and God without man will not. If man continues to pump enormous quantities of oil and water from Mother Earth for his manufacturing purposes and to spew enormous volumes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, to litter its surface with garbage, and to put noxious effluents into its oceans, all for greed and short time enjoyment without thought for the next generation, then he cannot expect a just Providence to come to his aid..
The earth and all therein is the Lord’s, put there for the use of all mankind. If any individual or group wants to claim it and to stake off portions which he calls his own, then there will be conflicts. Most of the wars fought were for claiming or extending territories. If he uses the resources of the earth to manufacture weapons of destruction instead of implements for peaceful purposes, then he is preparing for conflict..
In religion which should be all embracing, man has set boundaries, claiming whose is right and whose is false, hemming himself around in a circle which is exclusive, ignoring that all mankind is one, with the same Divine spark within all; forgetting that the purpose of religion is to unite, not divide, to eliminate prejudice and hate and to show love and compassion.
‘Where there is no vision, the people perish. Mankind is on the brink of a precipice. His every invention which he claims will add comfort to mankind is bringing him nearer to the brink by hazarding the environment and threatening the safety and privacy of all. Yet man, now, more than ever, fails to see his interrelation, his interconnection and his interdependence. We are all one; no artificial barrier can separate us. The days of high walls and fences are over. What we need now is to extend the hand of friendship to all, to “beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks.’
There will be conflicts too, if justice is not meted out to all individuals. In this age of information, man is aware of his rights and he will fight injustice everywhere, even at the cost of his life. Dictators and despots will be opposed everywhere. Though they flaunt power, they are prisoners of their own power, and can remain in power, for so long as they have an army to protect them. .
So, what is the present situation! If we escape nuclear devastation, which is a possibility, can we escape the diminishing environment? Without a healthy environment, a good economy or the best health service means nothing, as our very survival is threatened. Man, after endangering and eliminating many species by his indiscretion, has now himself become an endangered species.
Randall Butisingh
