Many of us were raised in post-Depression families where our parents constantly enjoined us to "count our blessings". They had known to an extent some of the hardship and deprivation portrayed so powerfully by John Mulgan in Man Alone. The Apostle Paul said that he had learned to be abased and to abound (Philippians 4:12). He also said that if he had food clothing and shelter, with these he would be content (I Timothy 6:8).
Many people have lost a great deal in Christchurch and their lives have been shaken to the core. One of the most encouraging things amidst it all, however, is to see civil society rise to the surface. By "civil" we mean a society where people are treating each other with respect, care, and concern. Where neighbour is reaching out to neighbour. The news media has been full of such incidents. It has been encouraging. Our parents taught us that these are some of the things that really matter.
Stuff has published an open letter of thanks from a Japanese father who has apparently lost his daughter. It encapsulates the blessings to be counted amidst the tragedy.
To the people of New Zealand and Japan:
My daughter was involved in the earthquake disaster while studying English in Christchurch in order to fulfill her ambition of becoming a medical worker able to work globally. I have come to New Zealand hoping for a slim chance of her survival, but she has not been found and the situation seems desperate. It was such a consolation for me to have met you who helped and co-operated with us, the families of the victims, with such warm hospitality and encouragement. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to you all.
Here in Christchurch, I have seen how the people and the government of New Zealand have come together to work to rescue the victims immediately after the earthquake occurred and the government proclaimed a state of emergency. Having witnessed your dedication with my own eyes, I now understand why my daughter decided to study in Christchurch, 5600 miles far from my country.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Japan in New Zealand, and the Consulate in Christchurch have been coordinating their collective efforts to cope with this situation and supporting the families of the victims. I am impressed and thankful for their painstaking efforts even when the families sometimes become impatient and demanding.
The agent that introduced my daughter to the language school in Christchurch has been supporting us by keeping in touch 24 hours a day, updating news every 1 to 2 hours, and continuously cheering us up. My daughter's friends have also encouraged us by every possible means. Since arriving in Christchurch, many volunteers have been providing us with empathetic care. Staff members dispatched from the agent have been with the families, sympathetically listening to us and supporting us even when we lose ourselves in worry. The media staff members understand the feelings of the families of the victims well, and are reporting the central issues of the disaster. Even though my daughter has not been rescued yet, I think she is really lucky and happy because she is supported by so very many kind-hearted people.
Most of all, I am overwhelmed with gratitude toward the rescue teams from various countries, who have been engaged in the relief activities with their high technical capability and noble-minded motivation. I sincerely hope that those who are engaged in the relief effort will not be involved in secondary disasters.
I thank you all again for your unremitting efforts and unceasing empathy, which we will remember forever.
We ought not to take such civility in Christchurch for granted. There have been plenty of occasions in human history where it has been absent and suffering has been multiplied many, many times over. C. S. Lewis once remarked that Hell will be a collection of starving people seated at a long table with just a knife, each trying to eat peas . No civil society there. There have been times when hell has come on earth as neighbour has turned upon neighbour, and parents have devoured their children, and children their parents.
How thankful we ought to be that Christchurch has been spared this, and that civility and neighbourly love have been so strongly to the fore. We thank God that this has made the tragedy not as bad as it might have been.
To highlight the blessings which we are to count in Christchurch, contrast the following description of daily life in a city amidst tragedy as described by an eye-witness:
By mid-summer, as the blistered and jagged hills sprouted forests of fly-blow crucified cadavers, the city within was tormented by a sense of impending doom, intransigent fanaticism, whimsical sadism, and searing hunger. Armed gangs prowled for food. Children grabbed morsels from their fathers' hands; mothers stole the tidbits of their own babies. Locked doors suggested hidden provisions and the warriors broke in, driving stakes up their victims' rectums to force them to reveal their caches of grain. If they found nothing, they were even more 'barbarously cruel' as if they had been 'defrauded.' Even though the fighters themselves still had food, they killed and tortured out of habit 'to keep their madness in exercise'. (The city) was riven by witch-hunts as people denounced each other as hoarders and traitors. No other city . . . 'did ever allow such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, since the beginning of the world.' Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem, The Biography, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2011), p.4.
The city, Jerusalem. The time, AD70. The occasion, the Roman siege led by Titus. The situation, a people who had lost all civility. The result, hell upon earth.
The Lord said of that time that it would be "a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall." (Matthew 24:21).
Given that Jerusalem in AD70 teaches that of which we humans are capable, we thank God for a very, very different spirit manifest in Christchurch in AD2011. It is very beautiful to see--and not to be taken for granted.
Hat Tip: Keeping Stock
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