MANY, who saw the pathetic picture of the dead father and daughter their backs to the photographer, the little girl’s hand still clasping her dad’s shoulder, as they tried to cross into the USA and were swept by the river asked, “How could God allow this to happen?”
A few weeks ago, the whole country prayed for rain. We looked at parched lands, empty wells, and dried up rivers, at barren lakes and sun scorched skies and raised our hands in prayer. And God in his great mercy sent the rain. It came in buckets, nay torrents, and spilt all over the parched earth and greedily, oh so greedily the earth gulped the wondrous gift of water.
Plenty of water was required and plenty the skies gave. But in the streets of the cities, floods rose, potholes became craters and death traps, and gutters which should have drained the water away, could not, as sand, debris and garbage dammed themselves to make the waters spill back onto streets and roads and make murderous rivers out of them.
Men and women who had ventured to work, walked back home, some fell into the lecherous waters, some got hurt, others died, and inhabitants looked up and cried, “Why God why?” In all probability they were the same ones who had filled, churches, temples and mosques crying for rain. And now those same mouths blamed God for the deaths that His bountiful rain had caused.
But here a thought begs the question: Was it the rain that caused the problem or was it our destruction of the earth that caused these deaths? Is it not our selfish, indiscriminate use of low-lying lands that allows no place for the water to sink? Is it not our garbage, our filth, our non- cleaning of rivers that causes roads and railway tracks to get flooded?
Coming back to that sad scene outside the US border: Who made rules that discriminated against certain people enjoying a land? Against not allowing others to enter theirs? It certainly wasn’t God. And yet I hear the question, “How could God allow this to happen?”
God didn’t, my friend, you did. So what’s God’s role in all this chaos and destruction? His strength to win over circumstances. Guidance to stem the destruction, divine comfort during those difficult times, and when armed with faith, protection from the destructive ways of others. But for global warming which is causing oft destructive climatic change, for religious and communal hate causing wars and terror, don’t blame God. Blame only yourself..!
