Where did we go wrong?
Who is to blame?
‘Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake and the snake didn’t have a leg to stand on.’ Anne Atkins
What a week it’s been. Nothing anyone can say or do can condone the level of destruction and violence against people, both themselves and their property, lives torn apart in our civilised world is a great shock.
Police and politicians have moved in with force to quell the riots. Much talk about social networking on cell phones and the speed with which young people can instigate such attacks. And indeed much now talked about ‘copy cat’ riots.
But all of that puts into the shadows the underlying causes. It does not show a picture of the real’ why’? It has forgotten the original reason, following the death of Mark Duggan in Tottenham.
I read that we have become a ‘grabbing society’.
What we want and can grab, we have, whether it’s right or wrong and I’ll leave you to think of examples of that.
We promised young people a future, an education, but now that is going to be too expensive, so why do well at school?
But you know, there is so much more to all of this. What a waste of talent in these people, what has driven them to attack and loot and destroy? Lots of youngsters, everyone holds their hands up in horror, what parents can allow this!
Well, it’s August, summer holidays, school is out. And so are the youth clubs, gone with the cuts, any form of youth service and activities in most authorities have virtually all disappeared.
There is nothing for young people to do.
Let’s hope and pray that firstly it calms down, that all of those caught up in this violence can rebuild their lives. We have a civilised society, let’s hope we still show that face across the world.
Sermon 8th Trinity continues…
Revd Sue Martin