The World We Live In
A Moment of Compassion: A Moment of Thanks
By Mutryce A. Williams BBA CTM
When we look at the state that the world is in, we look to the heavens and the first question that we ask is WHY? Why is there widespread suffering? Why is there disease? Why is there starvation? Why is there poverty? Why is there war? Why do people commit murders? Why is there grave intolerance and racism? Why are there natural disasters? Why are mothers burying their children? Why do innocent people die? Is it just a Natural Mystic blowing through the air? In spite of this, do we take a moment for compassion and a moment to give thanks for our circumstance?
Will we ever find the answers to all the questions asked? We look to the heavens once more and wonder, could this be the first trumpet or very well the last? Why did the Tsunami in Southern Asia kill so many people? Why are the Israeli’s and Palestinians at war? Why did America invade Iraq? Why do people commit atrocities in the name of religion? In the year 2005, why are people still fighting for democracy? Why are women and children violated and trafficked internationally? Why does slavery still exist? Why is there ethnic cleansing in the Sudan? Why did so many people perish in Rwanda and Chechnya? Why did Monsterratians have to lose everything? Why is Dominica in the state she in? Why was Grenada ravaged by a hurricane? Is it just a Natural Mystic blowing through the air? In spite of this, do we take a moment for compassion and a moment to give thanks for our circumstance?
Why hasn’t Haiti been restored to her glory? Why didn’t Aristide deliver? Why do rulers like President Mugabe of Zimbabwe rape and destroy their countries? Why does peace evade us? Why can’t we live in a perfect world? Is this the way of the world? As our very own social philosopher, Bob Marley chanted, is there really a Natural Mystic blowing throw the air? Will we ever find the answers to all the questions asked? How many more will have to suffer? How many more will have to die? How many more would have to cry? Is this the way that things are supposed to be? If this is indeed the way of the world, does this mean that we should not show compassion or give thanks for our circumstance, because it is just a Natural Mystic blowing through the air?
On December 26th 2004, most of us woke up with our stomachs popping, filled with the joys of the previous day and with the thoughts of a bright tomorrow. The people of Southern Asia were not as fortunate. The first time I heard the news of the Tsunami in Southern Asia, I brushed it off and saw it as just another natural disaster. I thought it quite interesting and pictured the look on my nephew Brandon’s face, as he is quite the young geologist and is fascinated by things of that nature. When I heard the death toll, which was in the thousand’s at that time, I proclaimed, “It is the way of the world. It is nature taking its course.” It was just a Natural Mystic blowing through the air.
After a while, I became paralyzed by the images that were being broadcasted by the media, people were clutching onto debris at one moment and then they were no more. As the death toll rose and I saw a region ravaged by destruction I couldn’t help but cry and ask WHY? Could this be the first trumpet or very well the last? I found some comfort in Ecclesiastes chapter three, which begins, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven….” As I further questioned this happening, the answer came to me in Bob Marley’s song, Natural Mystic. This disaster couldn’t be anything else but a Natural Mystic blowing in the air.
When I sat and digested what the Tsunami had done to these unsuspecting and innocent people and the impact it would have on them for the years to come, it hit my core. I tried to imagine what these people might be feeling but a selfish part of me couldn’t help but think, “Thank God for sparing my native land!” This natural disaster is unlike any we have ever seen in our time. Approximately 200,000 lives were lost, LIVES; mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, natives and foreigners, once alive but now all DEAD. They were shoveled up and buried in mass graves or burnt, no good byes said, no closure. Most probably had no idea what hit them. The death toll continues to mount, as there is now the threat of dengue fever, malaria and cholera. When one thinks about the social, economic, political and psychological impact that the Tsunami would have on the people of Southern Asia, I know that there are no words that could describe it. Entire families were wiped out, children orphaned, a people left desolate, homeless, hopeless, entire economies crippled, infrastructure transformed and geographical structures destroyed. In our part of the world we have seen our share of hurricanes but we have never experienced anything quite like this.
These people now have nothing, they have nothing, no family, and no livelihood nor do they have shelter. They have nothing but memories, no material possessions just the clothes on their backs, that’s it. For most of us this is quite unimaginable. How does a country recover from such a thing? How do you explain such a thing? It is just a Natural Mystic blowing through the air. It is times like these that we should show compassion however we should also look up at our flag and say “Thank God Almighty, for our native land.”
One only needs to turn on the television to see what is going on regionally and internationally. Worldly happenings are heart wrenching but that is the world we live in today. It is a fact that many more would have to suffer, many more would have to die and many more would have to cry. We ought to be glad that some of these sufferings and atrocities are foreign or even non-existent on our shores.
It is only natural to ask WHY? Even the perfect and upright Job of Uz who feared God and eschewed evil asked why. It is only natural to show compassion. It should be just as natural to give thanks for our circumstances. The next time we complain about life in St. Kitts or curse the ground that we walk on we ought to realize that there are people in the world who are not as fortunate as we are. We ought to realize that we are blessed. Our situation could have been a lot worst. I think we need to sit down with our regional brothers and sisters and compare life on the other islands to life in St. Kitts, then maybe we would see just how fortunate we really are. Last week while hanging with a Grenadian pal from my undergraduate days at MSU, he remarked jokingly, “I know home is home, eh, cause I love Grenada, and that they say St. Kitts is the land of sugar, but is what you all have back there so, a gold mine, cause as soon as you all graduate the next day you all on a plane. You all aint even thinking bout working here for a year. Life got to be good in St. Kitts, man!” The Kittitians that attended MSU know that this is true. I know that their experience gave them a greater appreciation for St. Kitts.
We ought to be glad that we do not live in a war torn country. Our sons and daughters are not strapping bombs onto their bodies and blowing up people. They are not toting guns. Our sons and daughters are not being shipped back from Iraq in flag draped caskets. Our sons and daughters are not starving? Our sons and daughters have access to healthcare and free education. Our women and children are not being trafficked internationally. We ought to be thankful that our natives are not perishing at sea in dinghies in attempts to flee the country. We ought to be thankful that we live in a democratic country where it is government of the people, for the people and by the people. What more can we possibly ask for? We live in a country where a man is not judged by the colour of his skin but rather by the content of his character. This is something that we take for granted. Our children grow up with equal opportunities without ever having to be exposed to this thing called racism; do you know how fortunate we are?
We claim to be a politically divided country, look across the waters at Jamaica, asks the Ukrainians, Shiites and Muslims, the Israeli’s and Palestinians about political division, we are not that bad after all. We ought to be thankful that we don’t have to look our children in the eye like the parents of these ravaged nations and try to answer the questions WHY? What would we say; do you think that they would understand that it’s just a Natural Mystic blowing through the air?
GIVE THANKS
We have made New Year’s resolutions. We have given thanks for the gifts that have been bestowed upon us in this grand lifetime. We are indeed grateful for life; however, how many of us have taken the time to analyze the world that we live in? How many of us have given thanks for our nation and our geographical disposition? How many of us have actually kissed the ground that we walk on and say, “Thank God, I am a born and bred Kittitian!” In our New Year’s prayer, did we say, “Dear God thank you for blessing and sparing our native land.” How many of us looked up at our national flag and reflected on what it stands for or actually sat, recited the words of our national anthem and let them sink in, sink deep within. We are a nation where peace abounds and where children stand free. As a people we need not look very far to know how fortunate we really are, all we need to do is turn on the television and see the atrocities, wars, famine, desperation and hopelessness that plague our global brothers and sisters. When we look at these happenings we should show compassion and also give thanks that we are Kittitians.
