The Sound of Hope

“All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers” (Archbishop Francois de Salignac de la Mothe-Fenelon, 1651-1715).

The United Nations General Assembly condemned Syria, North Korea, and Iran for human rights violations. Civil wars rage, blood spills, and the cries of the defenseless echo throughout eternity.

Anyone who has taken an ethics class may have been posed the question: “Would you feel justified in stealing food if you were starving to death?” Maybe, if you were like me, you engaged in a colorful ideological debate on the subject. As interesting a topic this might be for abstract discussion, it’s impossible to have an honest discussion when your own stomach has never known starvation, or when theft is quite literally your only means of survival.

Survival is a miracle for the residents of these lands. Suffering is a given. Humanity has always needed to be rescued from itself, from its fallen state. Even the non-believer in a creator acknowledges the inherent evil that has driven humanity to every imaginable horror throughout its history. From the day Adam and Eve were first driven out of Eden, we have desired nothing more than to be free from the suffering we inflict on each other and ourselves.

The Christian recognizes this day will not come of our own accord. We will never “evolve” beyond this destructive nature.

But that does not mean we cannot hope.

What does hope sound like, look like, feel like? — “Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind… [and] love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39).