We're all in with a chance

 

Within the last two weeks, the world has witnessed two defining, human tragedies,occurring at sea.  Each saw the sad loss of life and let's be very clear - the loss of any life is significant and to be acknowledged as such.  Basically, all life is precious.  I start with this introduction as what sruck me, in following both these stories, was how conflicted and distorted a picture of humanity arose before my eyes.  

The first tragedy featured a shaky boat, full of  fleeing north Africans and west Asians, seeking asylum in Europe. It sank in the Mediterranean under the watch, of the Greek Coast Guard.  Hundreds were lost at sea.  A few days later, a sumersible with five passengers, wealthy men of privilege, was off an adventure to view the Titanic, when it went missing.  The alarm was raised and what pursued was a massive, international search and rescue mission, undertaken at great expense, only to find that the tiny vessel had imploded.  All five were lost.  The response to each tragedy could not have been so starkly different, with the two responses highlighting a frightening divide in how humanity views and treats humanity.     

Whoever the person is - gender, race, creed, socio-economic status - we are all human beings, deserving equal respect and enjoying equal dignity.  What the two observed and contrasting responses did was to put into question this basic premise about the value of life.  What is evidenced when comparing the responses to these two tragedies is that the world showed much greater attention and concern to the plight of the five lost in the submersible, over the hundreds of asylum seekers lost in the Meditarranean.  

We can then rightly suppose that the world cares more for people of wealth and privilege, than people who are poor, vulnerable and desperate.  As I look at the world's comparative lack of concern for a lost boatload of  poor people, fleeing poor countries, caught in conflict, I shake my head and think, "How unethical our world is".   

This is just wrong for human life is human life, end of story.  Put politics and all other external considerations aside.  No matter who they are, what their purpose may be or where they come from, dignity belongs to all human beings and all life is precious.  What a tragic and unethical world is one that judges and discriminates human being against human being, saying that one is worth more than another, based on mere externals.  In doing so, our world is denying many their chance in life, simply because they are poor, different and threatening our comforts.  

Life is life.  We are all in it together.   Pope Francis is right in observing that humanity is "suffering from a famine of fraternity".   I hate to finish on a negative note as this world is a good place to be; this is a good time to be alive and every human being is precious.  These are basic truths that we ever need to affirm.