A friend was musing tonight about the treatment of tourists in the aftermath of the December 26th tsunami.
“The world is too small now, isn’t it?”

We talked about the politics of the grand gesture and the politics of the long term.

I think my friend reads my blog, I’ve never really asked. If they do, I’d like to direct them to “Fear of the Other: The Chief Tactic of the Powers.

Among the chief tactics of the fallen principalities and powers is the incitement of fear. The fear of the other is, at bottom, the fear of Death. It is the fear that the other might “erase me” (as Jennifer has said in her comments on “Homosexuality and the Future Church” on December 17), or that others might try to “stuff things down our throats” (as David said in his comment on December 15). It is the fear that the other might take what I have or hurt whom I love. Fear that another might loom larger than I do or might do better than I can do. Fear that the other might be right. Fear that I might be wrong. Fear that I may have to change because of my encounter with the other. Fear that I may have to become vulnerable. Fear of being undone . . . of dying.

This fear of the other, it seems to me, is the chief effect of sin’s entry into the world. Genesis testifies to this. Cain became angry and jealous of his brother Abel. Was it not his fear of being erased or out done or overshadowed by his brother that drove him toward violence and murder? The Bible teaches that the first move of the “sin lurking at your door” (Gen. 4.7) is to incite fear of the other. And xenophobia, as the chief tactic of the fallen powers, has plagued us ever since—racism, sexism, militarism, and a host of other phobias, including homophobia, are all born of its sour fruit and nearly all end in some form of violence.

link via Jordon Cooper

Here in North America the sea has been our barrier, our wall, The New York Times looked at that today according to Religionline

Historically, we viewed the United States as a land of unlimited plenty, and so we practiced unrestrained consumerism, but that’s no longer viable in a world of finite resources. We can’t continue to deplete our own resources as well as those of much of the rest of the world.
Historically, oceans protected us from external threats; we stepped back from our isolationism only temporarily during the crises of two world wars. Now, technology and global interconnectedness have robbed us of our protection. In recent years, we have responded to foreign threats largely by seeking short-term military solutions at the last minute.

But how long can we keep this up? Though we are the richest nation on earth, there’s simply no way we can afford (or muster the troops) to intervene in the dozens of countries where emerging threats lurk - particularly when each intervention these days can cost more than $100 billion and require more than 100,000 troops.
A genuine reappraisal would require us to recognize that it will be far less expensive and far more effective to address the underlying problems of public health, population and environment that ultimately cause threats to us to emerge in poor countries. In the past, we have regarded foreign aid as either charity or as buying support; now, it’s an act of self-interest to preserve our own economy and protect American lives.

And the Canadian Prime Minister joined the the politics of the grand gesture today.

Canada will send its military disaster assistance team to Sri Lanka and double to $80 million its aid for south Asia countries devastated by a killer tsunami one week ago, Prime Minister Paul Martin said Sunday.

The dramatic ramping up of Canadian aid came on the heels of criticism that Ottawa’s response hadn’t initially been as robust as the desperate situation warranted.

Martin also dispatched RCMP forensic experts, emergency supplies of flashlights, blankets and water purification tablets to the region reeling from over 123,000 deaths. Five Canadians also perished after a giant wave triggered by an earthquake slammed into a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean.

For the first time in five years, the government will send the military’s Disaster Assistance Response Team abroad. Japan, Israel, Australia and Singapore have already sent their teams into the affected countries.

The DART team will require 24 Hecules aircraft to get to devestated countries.

Richard Gywn looks at the policy of ’soft power’ Canadians are so proud of.
I completely agree that our country took this course in order to differeniate our identify from the US. I think there are good historical reasons we have. And I think any Canadian that has watched our federal response this past week will need to be part of holding our government accountable for it’s promises, for it’s implementation of policy and for seeing that we no longer believe our myths and allow our soft power to self-erode.

The Wittenberg Gate took information from the CIA Factbook and broke down the number of deaths per day in the world. I’m going to flip the figures.
each minute: 108 people die
each day 155 thousand people die
each month: 4.7 million die
each year: 56.7 million people die

Day in and day out we go on with our lives hardly noticing the death and destruction all around us. Then something like this happens and we pause and take notice. Even if the one-day death toll from the tsunami should reach 150 thousand, as many suggest it will, it will still be only a blip on the statistical screen of the march of death. But we are not talking about numbers here. We are talking about people. Individual people with hopes and dreams, with other people who loved them, each with a unique blend of talents, desires, and personality.

link via Adrian Warnock