“Still I look to find a reason to believe.” Tim Hardin
The events of the last few days—no, the last few months—have been horrendous. From the attacks in Paris and Brussels to the slaughter in Orlando and the bombing of Baghdad, it seems that every time we turn on the TV, or open up a newspaper, we are assaulted with more violence, more bloodshed, more hatred and more death. At a time when we as scientists are on the brink of a new era in technology—a visit to Mars, cars without drivers, a “moonshot” to cure cancer—we as the human race seem to be backsliding into a new and darker Dark Age. For me, the dregs of misery came when I read the transcript of Diamond Reynold’s video of the shooting death of her fiancé Philando Castile in front of her four year old daughter, on the front page of the New York Times right alongside of the story of five Dallas policeman being shot and killed in cold blood. I could not watch the videos of either event.
Today at work one of my physicists gave me a gift. He is Romanian and recently returned to the land of his birth. He brought me back a photograph of the monastery at Voronet, in the form of a refrigerator magnet. He said that in Romania, there has been a rebirth of spiritualism and faith. The photograph is beautiful, and I later learned that this monastery is also called the Sistine Chapel of the East. From Wikipedia, legend tells us that the monastery was built by Stephen the Great, who in a moment of crisis in his battle against the Ottoman Turks, came to Daniel the Hermit in his skete and asked for advice. Daniel told him not to surrender the battle, but that if he won, he must build a monastery dedicated to St. George. Stephen the Great won the battle and in 1488, dedicated the monastery with these words:
I, Voivode Stephen, by the Grace of God Ruler of Moldavia, son of Bogdan, have started to have the monastery of Voroneț built to the glory of the holy and well-known St George, the great and victorious martyr, in 6996 in May on 26, on one day of Monday, after the Pentecost and I had it finished the same year, in September, 1488.
In these best of times, these worst of times, we all need to find a reason to believe. I believe that ALL lives matter—black lives, white lives, police lives, Syrian lives, children’s lives—all of us need to relinquish the fear and hatred that has taken over our lives and our human decency. Like St. George, we need to reaffirm our faith, whether it be in God, or in love, or in kindness, or in our fellow human beings. We need to do it now. We have met our nemesis and he is us. Time is short and we have a dragon to slay.
Your last paragraph says it all. I have been in tears on and off wondering what is happening in our country.
Life is fleeting. We must listen and learn about each other…enrich our lives. Not shorten other
Our time in this life is fleeting. We must listen and learn about each other to enrich all of our lives. None cut shorter than they already randomly occur. I too am hurt, appalled at the level of fear and anger I see in our world.
It’s a far, far better essay you write…
I have begun to turn off the radio and TV; in the silence, pondering how do we “love our neighbors”, when we can’t make peace within a family? We are all created in the image of God…this notion of race or differences in faith, etc. are purely human derived. If hatred breeds hate, can loving breed love; how do we begin, where do we begin? One by one we need to begin the healing. We can’t continue to raise children in this madness, they must not learn hatred, they must learn love or humanity is doomed.