09/10

I found the priest’s reflection on the gospel yesterday very timely.

Do we really treat others differently just because they are poor and not privileged?

Does it mean that if people are criminals & addicts they do not have the right to live anymore and thus deserve to die? So society can be purged of them?

Have we grown that calloused? Have we lost our humanity?

Well the last two questions were my own reflection.

I do not know if we really still need to be reminded of how complex the problem of poverty is deeply rooted in and greatly influenced by our cultural, historical, sociological, economic, & political circumstances.

I do not wish you for to go hungry for a day to understand that.

Everyday, one person dies because another person wishes for him or randomly selects him to. It’s a sick and sad and sorry thought. I cringe at it, remembering one afternoon when I was in one of the jeeps that were stranded in a busy highway and I saw, along with a hundred other people, a masked guy gun another guy.

I hope our children do not grow desensitized to this – the culture of violence and impunity, because it is not only a disservice to them, but it will be the greatest failure of our generation NOT to teach them the basics of compassion and respect for human dignity.

*sigh*

Good night and be more gracious,

Az