By Zohra Javed for TwoCircles.net,
When everyone had given up any little hope for rain, it sure has played havoc in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. And also in some parts of Goa and Maharashtra. There is an irony in this whole situation: the areas that have been hit by devastating flood were declared drought-hit some time back.
And in this situation there is a cruel tragedy also: whatever was left of the crops (under a drought) has now been washed away by the fury of the rains.
I was wondering aloud almost to myself as to how this apparent act of injustice by Nature that has had the most damaging effect on the poor, fit into the Divine impartial justice of a God, who is Almighty, All-Powerful, Just and the only Saviour of the poor. How could God allow the poor to suffer more and more while the rich get all the privileges.
Whatever one might say in support of Divine Justice, a situation like this compels one to feel that this cannot be the justice of The God who I believe in.
Then what could it possibly be?
And as my children listening to my loud thinking gave their opinion almost endorsing my fears, my thoughts went deeper into the intricacies of this Natural Justice.
Do we realise that there is a man-made crisis already staring us in the eyes, and as film maker Shekhar Kapur said in a message from the Rohtang Pass in the Himalayas, we are not talking of a possible calamity in the distant future. It is right here before us: global warming is menacing.
Deforestation is threatening.
We are dangerously playing with Nature. We are thoughtlessly meddling with God’s work.
Where are all the open spaces, green patches, public parks and such other common sights that I took for granted in my younger days?
In these days of health consciousness most of us talk of the importance of fresh air, exercise, healthy diet, saving plants and trees and so much else.
But what do we really do ?
(“talking” and “doing” denote different actions…as in “preaching” and “practice”, right?!)
We hardly resent the coming up of a shopping mall, an industrial complex, a multi-crore private educational institute or hospital and such other symbols of our progress. The space that could have been used for a public utility service like educational institutes for the underprivileged, hospitals for the poor, or for the promotion of our indigenous art and culture actually becomes a source of pollution and increased emission of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and also an addition to the fast increasing list of the places out of the common man’s reach.
However the tragedy is we remain oblivious and stone-deaf to Nature’s cries.
Hence I conclude convincingly that it is not God Almighty we should be blaming for natural disasters. Indeed Man is responsible and pays for his misdeeds. So far so good.
But a little more probing into this situation brings to fore the fact that it is actually the stinking rich who are playing their malicious games with our planet. Their filthy power has blinded them. All they can think of is the ever-increasing heaps of material wealth in their possession. They are snatching away the resources of sustainable growth and the very means of existence from the poor. Yet they are not the ones to be affected by Nature’s fury.
A flood does not make them homeless and sick.
A drought does not effect their supply of food and water.