2012 09 10
Recent earthquakes, combined with
the unignorable evidence of global climate disruption have brought
into focus for me the implacable hopelessness of he poor on our
planet. This unpleasant clarity of implicative vision seems to bring
to an end a persistant but unfounded PollyAnna-ness on my part. The
poor will always lose and die. Quakes and tsunamis invariably take
their most devastating toll among those least able to protect
themselves with adequate housing or stored supplies of food and
water. The droughts and floods resulting from global climate change
are already the harbingers of increased food costs which can only
lead to starvation among those who can't pay. The grinding dynamics
of population overload, natural disaster, economic imbalance and
aggrandizement of privilege make it impossible to imagine a kinder,
gentler world for those who don't have money or its equivalent. As
conditions worsen only those who have been able to financially or
politically insulate themselves from the collapse of the social
infrastructure will be able to survive.
I don't regard the above observation
to be defeatist, or fundamentally pessimistic - merely ineluctable.
And that which cannot be avoided must be countenanced - surely with
as much compassion and forethought as can be brought to bear - but
countenanced nevertheless.