Peace - A First-world Luxury.
I’m typing this a few days after the whole Hamas / Israel volcano has erupted. The Holy Land has long been fought over. Far too much blood has been spilled and far too many tears have been shed. It’s important to remember that this has not suddenly happened in a vacuum. Someone didn’t just get up one morning, brush their teeth and decide to go on a slaughtering rampage because they had a blank page in their diary. As our Bishop Garry wisely pointed out ‘While the US President and even our own Prime Minister have condemned Hamas for these atrocities, many have forgotten the long squeezing of the Palestinians in Gaza by an immensely more powerful Israel that has been going on for the last sixty years.’
I would be the first to put up my hand and say I don’t understand the complexities of this tortured history and the intricacies of the politics. But the thing I do know is that ‘A life is a life is a life and it is infinitely precious. And it matters not which side of the border that life lives and breathes; in The Master's eyes it is the most valuable thing in the whole wide world.’ We are all diminished and gashed when such atrocities occur.
In 2023 we often find ourselves using the phrase ‘A first world problem’. I’ve lost my mobile phone, the car has a flat tyre, the electricity has been cut off for a few hours for maintenance, these are all ‘first world problems’.
Now I’m coining a new phrase. ‘A first world luxury.’ The internet is a first-world luxury. Worshipping without fear of retribution or persecution is a first-world luxury. Peace is a first-world luxury.