Brian’s Reflection: Friday, July 13, 2007


Looking at faces of people, one gets the feeling
there's a lot of work to be done.

- Wole Soyinka (Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka), in Nigeria,
author, Nobel laureate 1986, born on this day, 1934

I have been watching the face of George Bush for a while now. The face of “archbishop” Akinola of Nigeria - the quotes are a sign of my deep sense of mendacity (lying), of betrayal of the truth. The faces of radical Islamic leaders. Of radical Hindu leaders in India. The faces of Tamil leaders, and of their “government” (which means those who have gained power) opponents. The faces of Sudanese government leaders. Ian Paisley’s face. The faces of Americas’s mis-named “Christian” populist leaders. Stephen Harper’s face in Canada. Nicolas Sarkozy of France. The President of Iran. The man proposed by Bush to be the next Surgeon General. Many more.

What do I see? What I see is frightening and deeply disturbing. I see conviction. And a vile veiled duplicity. Not a conviction founded in Justice, Compassion. But conviction founded in fear, and a craving for power, and zenophobia. That makes me think of Adolf Hitler. I have thought about this. Is there a difference among them? No. Worse, many of them look and sound like Delores Jane Umbridge, made headmaster of Hogwarts School by the Ministry of Magic, in the latest Harry Potter movie. Cool, “reasonable”, law-abiding - with evil and cruelty exuding from every charming pore.

I don’t know if even doing a “lot of work” will make any difference these days. We are on the edge - no, we have tipped over the edge - of warfare. Everyone who does not think as “we” do is the “enemy”. More, they are “wrong”, “ungodly”.

I have one consolation. “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. It may take awhile. But God, I hope. And it will all come crashing down.

But oh, I fear for those whose minds and hearts and spirits will be withered by this stage. And for those who will become their victims.

I am a believer in the “Remnant”. When the next stage of human depravity has run its course, there will remain those who love. Who have not consented to evil. They will rebuild the Kingdom of Peace.

Brian+