Changes in the weather

Looking at the situation in the Philippines, I begin to wonder about God and his ways. It seems a little strange that a God of love would allow these things to happen so frequently. Although I am struck by the goodness of people in response to the crisis, I am also left with an unnerving sense that it isn’t really our responsibility to fight fires after the devastating whim of a higher power. But in that rather glib comment is where I find the solution.

I get pretty upset about things like this, I have to be honest. I do actually think that I’ve got a pretty valid point. It always seems to be the poorest people on the planet who suffer most, doesn’t it? In response to disasters like this, God seems to have nothing to say.

The truth is, perhaps, a little more alarming. God is speaking all the time. The answer to this problem might just be our responsibility to each other. No one knows where the weather comes from, or where it goes, but we are each in possession of a God given liberty and with it the ability to exercise the will into action. He sends his rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. Maybe we’re all here to see how we get on. Never mind questioning God’s judgement, just get on and help where you can. Is it that simple?

We clearly do not live in a utopia and there are certainly things that could have been done to lessen the impact of this particular storm. It had to have been expected. Giving to ease the burden now is important, and just as important and necessary is a regular contribution to the Disasters Emergency Committee. Even more important than that though, is the responsibility that the governments of the world must show to countries like the Philippines in order to strengthen their infrastructure and housing so that storms like this do not have the same devastating effect. This responsibility might be as simple as applying pressure on the Philippine government to make sure that this is done. This seems to be more difficult in practice than it is in principle. Why?

Almost 90% of the population of the Philippines are said to be Christian. As a friend of mine said, it has to have tested the faith of many people to destruction. Is God wont to do this? It strikes me as a particularly cruel person who would. No, surely not. These changes in the weather are the natural result of the biosphere that keeps our planet in a state of balance. And people congregate in these regions for a reason: the Philippines is laden with natural resources. In the quest for survival, danger is found alongside reason. We must therefore insist as part of a sparse, poverty stricken and overpopulated populous that we have a responsibility to each other.

We need to remember that in the end, on the final day of reckoning, we will all be asked the same question: where were you when I needed you most? To go into these places to provide help after a crisis is admirable (but why the inappropriate delay, again? Why not just dispatch aid as the storm gathers?). But surely we have to ask ourselves the question, why did this storm have such a devastating effect? Why didn’t anyone see this coming? Why isn’t there any sense of urgency to provide responsible, direct, and honest council to prevent storms like this from becoming tragedies?

In a world full of specialists, doctors, professors, biologists, environmentalists and, most pertinently, politicians who claim to want to make a difference, surely we have to ask ourselves in all seriousness, where were we when they needed us most?

Stuffing our mattresses, I don’t doubt.