The streets are littered with beggars. The sight is not pretty. It is not just Calcutta. There are other slums like the notorious Smokey Mountain in Manila. They are everywhere if you care to look. In the streets of prosperous nations too. Los Angeles – New York, Sydney, London, Paris. You see them there although they may be not as ugly and obvious as in some parts of third world countries. But they are there, sometimes hidden from sight because people have become apathetic and immune to them. At some point in life, you asked and screamed at God at the abject moral travesty of man. Why – God? Then a voice whispered from the bowels of your deep —-
– YOU –
What? Me? Are you kidding. I didn’t even asked to be born! If that’s your reaction, that’s perfectly normal. How can you be held responsible for the misery and woes in this world? You are just another digit out of the billions in the world.
Still, let’s reconsider this possibility that YOU are part of the problem.Do you really think God created all these travesty if He is good, kind and loving?
If you are a parent and have provided all for your child, can you expect that all will turn up well in the life of your child if he continually rebels against your good meaning instructions and advice? Of course, that is on the assumption that you are a normal “good” parent and that your precepts are righteous. You will certainly not vouch on that. Because you know that the path the child leads is fully dependent on his own volition and action. He makes his own choices. His destiny is beyond your control. You can only hope.
So, YOU are you. Your life begins with YOU. That’s a fact. You may retort that you cannot change the world. That is indeed correct too. But YOU can change yourself. That’s the only person you can change. It begins with YOU. Your transformation is a real possibility. Beyond that, you can only be an influence. You can contribute directly, or via your behaviour and influence.
Even world leaders are not capable of making the world a better place. The rich and powerful look at their interests first. At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017, leaders and the rich of the world lament the disproportionate distribution of wealth. How ironic! It’s like Bill Gates asking the beggar why are you poor while sipping champagne. Or the robber asking his victim if the stolen property is indeed yours? Jack Ma the Chinese billionaire of Alibaba made some poignant and striking remarks:
It’s not that other countries steal jobs from you guys. It’s your strategy. Distribute the money and things in a proper way. You’re supposed to spend money on your own people.
The American multinational companies made millions and millions of dollars from globalization. The past 30 years, IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, they’ve made tens of millions — the profits they’ve made are much more than the four Chinese banks put together…But where did the money go?
He added that USA wasted $14 trillion waging irrational wars. The number of wars that USA has been engaged in is startling. The chart below shows the FY2016 USA budget for military:
And what are the rich countries doing? The economy of the United Arab Emirates (10 million people) is the second largest in the Arab world (after Saudi Arabia), with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $570 billion (AED2.1 trillion) in 2014 (Wikipedia). The world as a whole is not poor. Like Jack Ma lamented, it is human greed that results in disparity of wealth. The amount of money spent on arms is more than enough to feed the world and provide every man with decent needs.
A trillion dollars given to the “displaced” Palestinians is more than adequate to create a paradise for all Palestinians such as Dubai out of the huge tracts of deserts in the Middle East. Why won’t the United Nations do this and let everyone live in peace and harmony (and wealthy)? Why is the United States pouring money waging wars, then pretending to promote peace and democracy?
History tells us that the chaotic status quo of world affairs will continue. The dream of man’s peaceful co-existence is elusive. Man in our current state will not be able to achieve the ideal state. No one, not the United Nations can change this. Sad as it is, the world is not without hope. Starting from self, great things can be achieved. You can change yourself. That’s where it must start.
Ephesians 2:15
15 by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
Thy word ..... 