Contemplation from the Pope

It has been much quoted this week that the Pope in his final speech had said that he had sometimes wondered whether God had been asleep on his watch. What an extraordinary thing for any Pope to say and indicative of just how extreme are the goings on in our time.  It struck me as a very brave thing for him to say ... and I admired his frankness.  Struck me too how strange it is to reflect the mess which humans can make, back on to God ...perhaps a more sensible way to think is that God, the universe and humans too ...  are all in a growing situation .. not perfect ..but with the ability to grow and refine and to move forward ....surely this is the greatest gift of all  ... and in a world which is so full of problems...perhaps one simple goal is to be a positive player within this unfolding situation..whatever our race or creed ?

Expendable?

Had an odd little wake up call this week....Small domestic incident but really made me think !My kitchen swing bin has been driving me nuts as the lid kept coming undone ...and each time, it happened it was a bit irritating and I kept putting it back together and thinking , must remember to get a new one ! Then I stopped and looked again and though how ridiculous..you haven't even tried to mend it .. which I then did within five minutes and with only a piece of thread! Perfect job and back in working order...and so satisfying ! Thing is, it made me think how quick I am to throw anything away at the drop of a hat ..this attitude that everything is expendable and throwaway so permeates life today  ... and I just thought to myself, I do not want to think like that because with it comes a lack of value, and lack of creative thought !  

Grave to Irreversible

I went to a lecture recently on sustainable issues. In relation to climate change, it seems scientists have a chart which goes from grave, very grave, runaway to irreversible ... and their current assessment of our situation sits between very grave and runaway. If we don't take urgent action now, it will be in the irreversible category by 2050.  The forecast being that without strong steps being taken within 20 years, the climate will be 4-5 degrees hotter by the end of the century.  Pretty serious situation, especially when so many governments are what he referred to as sustainable illiterates! It's a strange thing .. and I've felt it myself at times, that one can hear the facts ...yet they don't really register in real terms of evoking a response.  Why is that ? Are we just so flooded with information and imagery .. often horrendous things like violence and famine...that we've developed this ability to shut off from the impact of the truth staring us in the face?