I have just been told that there has been a terrible accident in this
country. A train has fallen into the river and at least twenty people have
been killed. This is going to be a matter for discussion in the French
Parliament today, and the Director of the State Railway will be called
upon to speak. He will be cross-examined as to the condition of the
railroad and as to what caused the accident, and there will be a heated
argument. I am filled with wonder and surprise to notice what interest and
excitement has been aroused throughout the whole country on account of the
death of twenty people, while they remain cold and indifferent to the fact
that thousands of Italians, Turks, and Arabs are killed in Tripoli! The
horror of this wholesale slaughter has not disturbed the Government at
all! Yet these unfortunate people are human beings too.
Why is there so much interest and eager sympathy shown towards these
twenty individuals, while for five thousand persons there is none? They
are all men, they all belong to the family of mankind, but they are of
other lands and races. It is no concern of the disinterested countries if
these men are cut to pieces, this wholesale slaughter does not affect
them! How unjust, how cruel is this, how utterly devoid of any good and
true feeling! The people of these other lands have children and wives,
mothers, daughters, and little sons! In these countries today there is
hardly a house free from the sound of bitter weeping, scarcely can one
find a home untouched by the cruel hand of war.
Alas! we see on all sides how cruel, prejudiced and unjust is man, and how
slow he is to believe in God and follow His commandments.
If these people would love and help one another instead of being so eager
to destroy with sword and cannon, how much nobler would it be! How much
better if they would live like a flock of doves in peace and harmony,
instead of being like wolves and tearing each other to pieces.
Why is man so hard of heart? It is because he does not yet know God. If he
had knowledge of God he could not act in direct opposition to His laws; if
he were spiritually minded such a line of conduct would be impossible to
him. If only the laws and precepts of the prophets of God had been
believed, understood and followed, wars would no longer darken the face of
the earth.
If man had even the rudiments of justice, such a state of things would be
impossible.
Therefore, I say unto you pray—pray and turn your faces to God, that He,
in His infinite compassion and mercy, may help and succour these misguided
ones. Pray that He will grant them spiritual understanding and teach them
tolerance and mercy, that the eyes of their minds may be opened and that
they may be endued with the gift of the spirit. Then would peace and love
walk hand in hand through the lands, and these poor unhappy people might
have rest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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