How madder can men get?

Sunday Morning Sermon - Mar 2 2014 [better late than never]

What we are witnessing on our planet, from sizzling Syria to roaring Russia, is not any survival of the fittest, but rather a prevalence of the maddest. How else would we describe nations bullying others 

in plain sight to force them into submission?

Remember the tactic and intensity of Syrian shelling on the residential Christian areas of Lebanon in the late eighties to understand this kind of bullying. It means no mercy and no logic. It also means killing people physically or killing their resolve and any hopes they might have. It means the focused shelling will only intensify until all are dead, if necessary, or all survivors are on their knees begging for mercy.

Those who refuse to beg are controlled through other methods. From sanctions to jailing and assassinations, the Assad Regime has a history of serving torture and intimidation in various potions. To each his gall and no one escapes the wrath of a regime that thrives on people’s misery and self-disrespect

Remember the trips to Syria by politicians to be accepted or to be left alone to do their jobs, or those apologizing profusely for earlier “transgressions” and declaring loyalty and obedience to the master who can keep them alive or turn them into corpses

It is the same regime that kept its hold on Lebanon for decades and when the people spoke and kicked Syria out, they were promised a scathing pay back. The octopus was counting on its loyal tentacles spread deeply and widely around Lebanon to deliver

Following the same logic, Ukraine sought closer ties with the European Union, and Russia said no. Russia then used its tentacles to create dissent and make the struggle as bloody and as deadly as possible. When the people still prevailed and overthrew the government, Russia stepped forward ready to invade the country to save it from its own self. There is no logic in this equation, only aggression, bullying and a headless beast taking everything down with it as it falls

Russia and Syria have no legitimacy left. What they do have is the bullying power that wreaks havoc as a world. Late to act, it finds itself unable to jump in this bloodbath and powerless in the face of suffering innocent victims

Syria will starve the people of Yarmouk to death and Russia will invade Ukraine, because they can. The players have crossed all lines; at this point the world cannot face this barbarism with civility

Where do we go from here?

Amen!