Reflection for November

"If I ruled the world", sang Harry Secombe as Mr. Pickwick in the musical based on Dicken’s “The Pickwick Papers“. Mr Pickwick, a good natured benevolent soul spelled out what he would do if indeed he did come to rule the world. We might ask ourselves the same question.

Most people would probably say to bring "peace", but peace does not come of itself, it has to follow justice, justice for all involved in conflict with meaningful just retribution, and this is frequently the stumbling block to progress with peace negotiations.

Those who follow the fate of the poorest and the starving will advocate for food aid, sharing the resources of the planet more fairly, cutting out the extravagence and waste of those who have, and assisting with effective distribution to those who have not. Where climate change is playing havoc with traditional farming and livestock funding the re-education of local farmers with drought and heat resistant crops, with water and soil management will enable them to avoid famine and once again to provide effectively for themselves.

Debt relief would certainly be high on the list of required changes. Many of the poorer countries are in debt, paying more in interest on irresponsible loans than they can afford for their health services and programmes to improve infrastructure. The loans have come from greedy private lenders like banks, hedge funds and oil traders who have already made billions off the debt crisis.

Ruling the world would be a most weighty task, far more than one country, let alone one man could manage. Empires have come and gone leaving some measures of change and improvement, but conflict, poverty, famine and debt persist.

Thank God there is Christian Aid, their groundbreaking work began in 1945. British and Irish churches got together to help refugees following the Second World War. For 80 years, Christian Aid has provided humanitarian relief and long-term development support for poor communities worldwide, while highlighting suffering, tackling injustice and championing people’s rights. They certainly do not rule the world, but bit by bit they are changing it for the better.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  David Peacock