Dialogue, not violence the way
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By Dr. Chris Anthony
Butterworth, Malaysia
Op/Ed
Catholic Online
Over the last few weeks we have been over- loaded with news and ugly scenes of the war in the Middle East. We have been shown images and videos of deaths of innocent people in Lebanon and to a lesser extent in Isreal.
We witness the suffering of those injured and those displaced from their homes as a result of damage to their houses.Roads, bridges and buildings are completely destroyed. Electricity and water supply are totally interrupted. Innocent people are trapped without food or shelter for days. Many are living in fear, fear that death from a missile or rocket attack would strike them at any moment. They are unsure whether their loved ones will be alive the next day.
We are shown touching scenes of parents weeping at the funeral of their children who are so brutally killed. We hear the mourners yelling abuses at the enemies. The whole scenario is so depressing and disturbing. Man is killing one another in the name of his God.
We hear people shouting out for God's help and at the same time calling for revenge and blood of the enemy.At times we this never-ending violence tends to cast doubts on the existence of God even in the most ardent believer.
As this killing and destruction is going on, we see the failure of dialogue and negotiations at the United Nations. Emotional speeches fall on unsympathetic ears. Days and weeks pass by but the solution is nowhere in sight. With every passing hour more children, pregnant women, elderly men and women and even the disabled and handicap continue to be killed by the warring factions.
Even when a ceasefire was finally agreed upon, the two factions continued with their attacks to inflict as many casualties as possible during the dying hours leading to the time of the enforcement of the ceasefire.
Where is mankind heading to? Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly called for restraint and asked the international community to intervene and stop this killing. He called for prayer for divine intervention to bring sanity to mankind.
We pray and fast but our prayers do not seem to be answered, why? Probably we do not have the real passion in our prayer. This passion in our prayer can only come if we have real love for those we pray for. May we do not have real love for those we pray as they are in a far away land, whom we do not see or hear.
Very often we implore the help of God to solve our miseries not realizing that we have, for all practical purposes, we have excluded Him from our hearts. Unless we welcome and harbor God in our hearts it would be futile to implore His help. If only we see God in those around us and even in our so-called enemies, all these violence and killings will not occur.
Dialogue is the most important tool in solving problems among us, but unfortunately this appears to have taken a back seat in today's world, even in our own Church. In our country dialogue in a civil manner is not allowed and at times even threatened. The powerful majority have access to means which the minority is denied.
As Christians, we must encourage dialogue as a way of life from a very young age. Violence is never an option under whatever circumstances.
The real problem today lies in the fact that our political leaders at all levels, even the so called Christians are devoid of Christ in their hearts. Unless we actively cultivate such leaders among us, humanity will continue to experience the horror of war and violence.
Contact
JLC Consultancy
drctoni@blogspot.com
, MY
Chris Anthony - Director, 604 3513959
drchris@streamyx.com
Keywords
dialogue
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