A FIRST FOR THIS GENERATION
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| On Earth for all creation not just humanity |
REFLECTION.
by Francis T Rozario
THE LAST CALAMITY
Not many know, but some of us have seen the calamity of the second world war. Some of us have parents who have suffered extremely during this war, as POWs, as forced labour in the "Death Railway," in then Burma (now Myanmar) others through hunger, malnutrition, fear and strife, others in prison.
Malaya as it was then known and probably in Borneo too, of which part is Sarawak and Sabah were also part of the conquest.
In Malaya the suffering was extreme every suspect was either tortured or killed or both, my father was a prisoner of the Japanese then, he was tortured, a term that would have consequences on his health later in life.
From what has been told to me by my mother, and friends who lived during the time I can probably only imagine how terrible it was and what people then endured.
To keep families alive people spied for the Japanese, sometimes even exaggerating their stories and resultantly those on whom these stories were told to the Japanese suffered torture and even death.
Food was scarce but people got along, they ate tapioca if they had no rice, rice was scarce, and so too many other essentials.
Many Malaysians were beheaded, and my father told me one story the lesson I would use later in life.
Two men walked past a Japanese sentry, they refused to bow to the soldier standing guard there, and were called back and hit and asked to bow, they refused, one of them told the Sentry "I only bow to God," the others are equals and I do not bow to them. The sentry hit the man and kicked him and hit again with the but of his gun, the man fell down, the other lifted him up, he in turn was hit and butted as well more viciously.
They were asked to bow again, and by this time there were a group of Japanese soldiers standing by, they were all insisting these men bow to the sentry and they refused.
When they found that these men were not willing to give in they called a few passers by forced them to dig two graves for these two men and beheaded them.
In 1976, I worked for a Japanese organisation, it was customary for us to talk to our respective workers, in our sections in the morning, before the talk it was customary for the workers to bow to us and in return we bowed to them, I scrapped that requirement for the people in my section. When asked by my Japanese section head why we were not doing it, I gave him the same reply that brave man gave the Japanese Soldier in world war 2 it was an honour to do that, the Japanese shook his head and went off, after that they knew why I did not bow at them either, I wished them in Japanese they'd spontaneously bow at me but I never bent down to bow to them and they understood.
Those times in world war 2 were a time of disaster, calamity, death, distress, fear, loneliness, hunger, pain and more.
IN THIS CALAMITY ME AND YOU ARE THE ONLY TARGETS - NOTHING ELSE NOW JUST ME AND YOU.
Reflect these times today with the advent of a micro virus we call Covid 19, the conditions are the same I suppose as in any other calamity and that is for today, it can get worse, worse if we do not join together as one and fight this unseen enemy by respecting mother earth, and no matter what anyone says - that it came from China or from the United States or from Timbuktu it is a virus sent to us for our part in the desecration of the earth by mother earth.
Now the Earth is fighting back and it will, with in all its fury, with all its power and force and it is doing so with but just a tiny spec- the virus, now we witness the havoc it can bring not to the rest of nature but just to a select group, a chosen race - called Humanity - only us, see how how precise mother earth is.
To her we are all the same, she makes no distinction, it does not matter if you are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or of any other religion you are spot on you belong to that one race called Humanity, you are the target of mother Earth there is no distinction so we fight this together or perish together and say goodbye to Humanity..
Mother Earth is giving us that chance that is why we are locked down, the lock down is forced upon us to stay at home and reflect, reflect and change our ways or face the consequences.
NOTE: Not the Animals, not the Birds, not the fishes, not the worms, not the waters not the trees but you and me are the specific targets of mother earth.
Why us O God?
It is no longer a war of nation against nation but of Mother earth against her most wicked ungrateful residents - humanity, who have refused to live up to the terms of their tenure here on earth.
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| Large scale destruction of land and air |
Mother Earth is no enemy she gave us in abundance we were not satisfied, we raped her, took everything she provided for granted,destroyed and wasted it, destroyed it without a care and in abundance too, putting the planet and all other living creatures and plants in danger of extinction.
She tolerated us but now she can bear it no more and time has come for her to put things right, a fight for the rest of nature, the birds, the Bees the trees, the animals,the fish the waters, the air and the rest but not us we must be taught a lesson,we either learn or be doomed, she has leashed but just a tiny spec a truly formidable weapon but with chance for us to resolve to do things better and repent.
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| The Euphrates once thought to be part of Paradise |
This is why the older generation has been picked for this scourge as the most vulnerable, because it was this group (we) to be more precise my generation that contributed most to the pillage of the earths resources without a care for how it affected the earth and future generations.
Yes, we must admit that it was us the bloody baby boomers who created this chaos, don't point your fingers to anyone point it to yourself if you are over 50 and say, "mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" (it is my fault my most grievous fault).
We may not have been actively involved in the rape of the earth, but by our collaboration - being workers, doing work in such industries, being involved in any way whatsoever as customers or peddlers of goods and services that used these pillaged resources of earth in one way or another, were party to it, and more so by our silence even if we thought it was bad and we could not fight the system, most of us joined it in one way or another anyway.
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| Pillaged without care |
MOTHER EARTH IS NOT WICKED - FOR NOW IT IS BUT A SLAP ON THE WRIST.
Yes, this Covid 19 outbreak is for now but a slap on the wrist and we had better take this slap on the wrist seriously.
The next generation is watching they will come to the realisation if we do not and they will disown us, they will trample on us and get rid of us like a heap of rubbish their destinies are at stake so who can blame them. We have to take it back for them or face the dire consequences a punished and a cursed generation, that is us.
Our children learned what care for the environment means , they have learned and are still learning of how to care for our natural resources. They are learning that money is not everything, less and less of them are even keen on owning a house, they want to see the earth in all its glory, they want to travel, they want enjoy the natural resources many of them have never seen, they want it there for them and their children and their children's children, they can't have it if we continue with these selfish ways and they'll know it soon enough.
I had a friend who once told me that his nephews an nieces visited the family home in Ipoh, they were naturalized Singaporeans, and they spent a whole day looking at those big birds in the surrounding of the house and when told they were chickens they could not believe it, this is a very true account, and ironically it happened to my grandchildren here in Klang ... imagine in Klang.
Now we are forced by mother earth to reflect, reflect on our selfishness, our pride, our greed, our carelessness, to reflect on our values, on how much we care for ourselves our neighbours, our community, our surroundings, our natural resources, our children and their future here on earth, on the less fortunate, on the prisoners, the down trodden, the sick the lonely, the orphans the widows, the tramp on the street, the beggar, the drug addict, the prostitute, the hungry and the dying, and to resolve to take care of all of them, for if we don't, even to the the least of these we are doomed. Examine the situation carefully.
Our greed has driven us to this edge
This caring will make us less lavish, we'll do away with what is not absolutely needed,when we cut our lavishness we will protect the environment, we use less of its resources, we will not pillage, and in caring we will have more friends - true friends, we will be happy together, for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his own soul, we have to discard our greed.
We are forced into solitude today, a time forced upon us for that reflection, we must come out of this fully aware that it is not I, for I can't live alone without the others.
The resources are for all living creatures by mother earth nothing there is mine or only for the human race, we have to share them amongst ourselves, we are all earthlings and everything on earth is meant to be shared by all earthlings, the trees, the animals, the birds, the insects, it belongs to all of God's creation if we are going to take it only to fulfill our own selfish greed, it will become untenable and we will no longer belong, we will be wiped out, the balance has to be preserved, if you look at it carefully if we take out the top of the food chain that is us the rest below will thrive.
Mother earth can go back to be the red hot barren rock she once was without all living creatures, but she is saying why should I, these other creatures did no wrong and reserve the right to inhabit the place without this selfish and thoughtless group - Humanity.
The choice is ours live and continue as inhabitants of this beautiful earth, or become extinct or prepare to go live in another earth without all these resources - go to Mars perhaps but that too a select few will be chosen and if we can't get over this we can never live on Mars either not Humanity we are too selfish for our own survival.
At the end of the day it's, "what is there in it for us the whole of the earth rather than what is there in it for me" or just humanity.
The dog, the pig, the chicken , the crow , the shark, the tiger, the dolphin, the lion, the Zebra, the cow, the worm, the birds, the bees the butterflies everything counts, the trees, the air we breathe the waters of the sea and the land the earth belongs to them too, and what we take from the earth must not exceed what we absolutely require for ourselves, because it belongs to all creation.
