As It Was In The Days Of Noah--Complacency In The Face Of Catastrophe

Noah's Ark During the Flood, Vladimir Kosov

"Before the great flood everyone was carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ark. They knew nothing—until the flood hit and swept everything away."

Matthew 24:38 (the Message)

Like most North Americans, I fail to realize how exceptionally fortunate I've been in having avoided the trauma millions of others on our planet have suffered in my short lifetime. 

In the first decade of my life, over 50 million people died in World War II. In western Europe and in parts of Asia whole cities were obliterated, two of them by nuclear bombs. Over six million people, mostly Jews, suffered horribly and perished in the Holocaust.

In the 50's the Korean War devastated millions, as did the Vietnam War in the 60's and the 70's, in which the US dropped more bombs in that part of the world than had been used in all of WW II. An untold number of our southeast Asian neighbors lost their homes and their lives.

In the 80's and 90's our African neighbors saw an increase in droughts and other conditions that led to mass starvation. In the Second Congo War some 2.7 million died, mostly from hunger and disease. 

In this century, over 13 million of our world neighbors have been affected by drought and famine in Niger and West Africa, and multitudes have starved in Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Nigeria. In the Middle East thousands of men, women and children have perished in Yemen as a result of the Yemeni Civil War and the US supported blockade of Yemen by Saudi Arabia.

Most recently, over 30,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza, with a population of 2.1 million people already living in poverty and crowded in a space less than 20% the size of Rockingham County. Many in Gaza have suffered severe burns. loss of limbs and other injuries, and most of its inhabitants, many of whom were already living as refugees for decades, have had to flee their bombed out homes and refugee camps with nowhere to go, and without shelter, food or even minimal healthcare.

In spite of all of these recent disasters happening on the small blue dot we share on planet earth, we have come to believe we are exempt from the tragedies experienced by billions of other human beings.

Everywhere but here. Any time but now.

Just as in the days of Noah.