Sunburnt Speculations

I took the headlines to God and asked,

“Tell me, please God, is this ‘Genocide’? I need to know.”

And God replied,

“That word is of your law. You only need to know that my Word is Love.”

Trembling, I whispered,

“Is this Love?”

I no longer wonder whether the horrors we see unfolding daily around the world can be defined as “genocide”.

You can look up the meaning of “genocide” in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide if you’re interested. It might be worth having a closer look at.

But “genocide” is a legal term. It has meaning where law is acknowledged and enforced. We seem to have passed that point, and the argument about it has become a distraction – an empty argument about an abstract legal term. In a post-law world, we need a different language.

It is also a slur – something that can be thrown with malice at those with whom we disagree or whom we fear or do not understand.

Our ‘sin’ – were we to ask God about it – might not be that we have committed or been complicit in genocide, but that we have not loved as we should.

So, I choose not to use the term, ‘genocide’. Instead, I will speak of the deaths and mutilation of tens of thousands; and the displacement, starvation, and disease of millions. I will speak of these things without distinction of nationality, language, uniform, or faith – without distinction between them and us. I will speak of our collective failure to love and I will pray for a change of heart.