Men and women can do wonderfully positive and constructive things — but unfortunately, some do horribly destructive things.
Consider the countless unselfish charitable acts of humane concern that many people do for others throughout the world.
But then lament war and horrible viciousness as some suicide bombers in Iraq indiscriminately murder large numbers of innocent people whom they do not know and cannot personally identify as their enemies.
And then there are the uncontrollable forces of nature such as we have seen displayed in many parts of the world in recent days.
We were shocked by the earthquake in poverty-stricken Haiti, which added to the misery of the people there, and caused many deaths.
Then news came from many miles away, from Chile, where the shakings of the earth tumbled buildings, causing many deaths, although the structures there were more substantially erected than those in Haiti.
Also, over great expanses of our world, many thousands of people have been driven from their homes in fear of destructive tsunami waves spreading over the ocean to distant places.
We cannot foresee many of the ravages of nature, and have difficulties racing from their destruction when mighty forces threaten lives and property. But just think how much better off the people in many places would be if there were none of the purposeful human destruction in warfare and vicious acts of terrorism that cause deaths and casualties and impoverish people.
Yet after some of the worst examples of man’s inhumanity and nature’s ravages, there inevitably rise some of the best aspects of mankind, as many people rush aid and comfort to those left in despair from nature’s or mankind’s destruction. Many people seek to bind up wounds and help in countless ways to put survivors’ shattered lives back to some kind of order.
Many terrible tragedies cannot be prevented, but there are so many negatives that could be avoided if only the good that we see in many people prevailed always in all mankind.