Ed, my neighbour next door, has decided that somebody better make a crazy glue to hold this world together.
?Everything is falling apart these days. If it isn?t another earthquake, it is floods and nuclear fallout from Japan turning the Pacific Ocean into a radioactive bathtub. Pretty soon, the only safe place in the world will be right here in Saskatchewan,? claims Ed.
Ed usually doesn?t pay much notice to world affairs. He says he has enough problems on his farm to do him. Weeds never give up, fuel prices, fertilizer prices, machinery costs and repairs are never ending, and spring time to harvest he has more work than six men can do.
Yet, this year is one of the most turbulent years for world events that Ed can remember. In the Middle East they keep telling their leaders to get out and stay out. Floods have devastated parts of Australia. New Zealand was hit with an earthquake and there was the big quake and tsunami in Japan as well. Ed has decided that things are going wrong way too much these days. He is even certain our snow will melt too fast and all of Saskatchewan will be one huge slough this spring.
I asked Ed, ?Are you sure you are okay? It is not like you to get concerned with world affairs!?
?It must be a middle age thing,? Ed suggested. ?Usually a glass of whiskey and a good cigar is all I need to lighten up and keep happy. I cannot figure out why all of a sudden I have a sense of concern for things happening around the world that I cannot do anything about anyway,? Ed admitted.
?Are you developing greater compassion? Or, are you getting anxious that life can be a ticking time bomb for everyone?? I questioned.
?Let?s go with the compassion thing,? Ed offered.
?At least with a natural disaster a person can do something about it. Survivors need medical care and the necessities of life like food, water and shelter. We can give money to aid agencies like the Red Cross to make sure those suffering are helped.? I said to Ed.
?Maybe if I gave money it wouldn?t help the needy; it would get spent on something else. Did you give money for people in Japan you?ve never seen or know?? asked Ed.
?I did! If everyone gives as they can, there will be enough to help those in need. I say, when bad things happen at home or around the world, we need to help because hurting people need it. We never know when bad things could happen to us,? I said kind of passionately.
?Slow down there,? Ed demanded. ?My concern for events in the world cannot be compassion, because I?m not sending money to anybody except to pay one of my own bills,? he added.
?It must be that you are afraid that life is a ticking time bomb. That is scriptural. The Bible says, ?No man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them,? I told Ed.
?No way,? Ed stated, ?I?m not afraid. It has to be a middle age thing.?
