‽istis wonders about chickens and eggs
(weekending April 16th 2022)
This
weekending, for many across ‘Western Christendom’ this Easter weekending - when:
a) the sinking of RMS Titanic 110 years’ ago is
commemorated and the debris of metaphors for hubris perhaps rises to the surface
again
b) when the violent and warring aggression of
one state to another is described as genocide (1) and perhaps we try to begin
to imagine the appalling experiences that might represent ‘proof’ required by legal
strictures and complex processes: rape, execution, targeting of civilians, the
pounding to dust of the infrastructure of ordinary life
c) a sitting Prime Minister can indeed claim an
‘all-other-UK-Prime-Minister-beating’ (if not world-beating) law-breaking first
(2) and accepts ‘in all sincerity, that people have the right to expect better…’
(though presumably only in relation to this limited matter)
d) an immigration policy initiative proposes to transport
people (‘migrants and refugees (who) make perilous journeys across
borders and even oceans in search of safety and economic opportunity, running
away from armed conflicts, famine, climate change and other hardships they have
encountered in their home countries…’ 3), to Rwanda (4) ‘to consider their
claims for asylum… and arranging for the settlement in Rwanda of those
recognised as refugees or otherwise requiring protection’ (from the ‘Memorandum
of Understanding’) and the financial arrangements are perhaps unclear (‘19.1
The Participants will make financial arrangements in support of the relocation
of individuals under this Memorandum of Understanding.’)
e) ‽istis walks past a church
with one of many services ‘celebrating’ Easter underway
…‽istis
ponders whether perhaps, possibly, maybe any proposed ‘solution’ tells us quite a
lot about the perception of what the ‘problem’ is:
a) Icebergs?
b) War as any kind of solution; disregard for
human rights – at the most fundamental: the right to life; orders given; a brutalising
strategy encouraged or at least systemically allowed, or at least blind-eyes
turned?
c) The interpretation and judgement of the
police?
d) People, adults and children seeking safety, a better life for them and their families? The ‘pull’ factors? (5)
e) Sinful humanity in need of redemption?
As
for the latter – redemption and the saving of the world - ‽istis thinks that at
best this may still be a work in progress…
Some
might question the effectiveness of that apparent God-becomes-Man
sacrificial/penal-substitutionary supernatural gesture. But then how bad might
the past 2,000 years have been without it - or do we need to wait until after
death (by drowning or freezing; by soldier’s gun, knife or sheer brutality; by
bomb and missile; by Covid19’s huge death toll in this country including those who died without
the comfort of family members who did not party and who followed lockdown rules; by
machete, by death in custody) to reap the eternal benefit‽
‽istis
wonders whether we might consider that other views could be available, that
there can be other framings of the problems and that then, just perhaps, possibly,
maybe other solutions could be imagined…
©
Pistis
NB:
further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog entries
to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily indicate
approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’
and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
3) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/memorandum-of-understanding-mou-between-the-uk-and-rwanda
4) Rwanda: https://factpackers.com/interesting-facts-about-rwanda/
& a country where: ‘As many as 800,000 people were murdered by the Hutus
from April to June 1994… Systematic rape was used in addition to the brutal
mass killings. It is estimated that between 250,000 and 500,000 women were
raped and killed during the Rwanda genocide; thousands of women were kept as
sex slaves.’ (https://borgenproject.org/15-facts-about-the-rwanda-genocide/)
5) See blog entry: ‘‽istis
reclaims tears (weekending October 31st 2020)’
